Chapter 9: An Enduring Tension: Kindergarten Education in an Era of Accountability

Since the institutionalization of kindergartens in public elementary schools in the early nineteenth century, what and how to teach kindergarten students has been an enduring tension. This exploratory interview-based study of 17 kindergarten teachers in California addresses the ways in which teachers perceive that standards-based accountability policy influences what and how they teach. Teachers report that rising external control over their curricular and instructional choices pushes kindergarten curriculum and instruction toward standardized academic content aimed at preparing students for the primary grades. The findings have implications for understanding the mechanisms through which accountability policy affects teachers work and raises questions for further research about how these mechanisms play out in the classroom.