Open Letter to NAEYC

January 6, 2013

Open Letter to NAEYC:
A Call for Leadership in the Field

“We are doing earlier and earlier to children what we shouldn’t do later.”
-Dr. Lilian Katz (keynote NAEYC PDI, June 2011, Providence, RI)

NAEYC has long played a valuable role in identifying and supporting best practices in early childhood education. The strong position NAEYC took with its 1986 publication, Developmentally Appropriate Practice, focused attention on respectful, child centered ways of working with young children and helped to unify the early childhood field and slow a “back to basics” push that began in the early 1980’s. Since that time, a growing concern with standards and accountability has moved education in the United States in another direction. The drive for performance standards and accountability for meeting the standards (usually in the form of scores on standardized tests) was first legislated by the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, and that has now gained traction from Race to the Top Early Learning Challenge. The national push for standards and accountability has led to the development of academic curriculum and assessment practices that are inappropriate for young children. These trends have led schools to focus on accountability rather than on meaningful learning experiences for young children. Excitement about learning and motivation to learn has been replaced by drill on skills that is tedious and often meaningless to children.

NAEYC appears to have gradually retreated from its strong defense of DAP. The voices of its leadership have not been heard vigorously protesting the proliferation of standards and assessments or offering meaningful alternatives to them. As a growing number of early childhood educators attest, many of these standards, curricula and assessments are developmentally inappropriate, ignore children’s needs, capacities, and cultures, and do not honor how they learn or their uniqueness as learners.

Dr. Lilian Katz, international education leader and former NAEYC president, has helped many parents and teachers understand the key differences between academic goals and intellectual goals. “I believe that we tend to overestimate children academically and underestimate them intellectually,” she writes. And “…early introduction of formal academic instruction may not be in the best interests of many of our children and, in fact, may be damaging in the long term.” (Katz, STEM in the Early Years, 2012) NAEYC would do well to listen to the words of Dr. Katz and make every effort to help keep children’s intellectual curiosity alive and supported in our early childhood classrooms.

Last month, NAEYC released their paper, The Common Core State Standards: Caution and Opportunity for Early Childhood Education. We were glad to see them weighing in to the national dialogue. We encourage NAEYC to provide the leadership that young children and the early childhood field desperately need to push back against the rapidly escalating academic push down. We call on the leadership of NAEYC, as the largest organization of early childhood professionals in the country, to stay true to our historic commitment to the healthy development of young children and to the original ideas of DAP and to forcefully and publicly take a stand on what is happening to early education in our country. We urge NAEYC to offer our expertise to help to revise standards to better reflect what we know about brain development and early childhood pedagogy and to participate in the development of curricula and assessments that are appropriate for young children. We further urge NAEYC to take this active role soon before the push for more academic content in early childhood classrooms puts more young children at risk for failure at the very time in their lives that they should be coming to love learning.

We often encounter members of NAEYC who are disappointed that the association has not spoken out against current harmful practices. Many of these members would welcome strong action and leadership from NAEYC. We realize that there are many pressures in today’s world—financial and political—that can make it difficult to stand up for what we know to be right. Nonetheless, the time has come for NAEYC to embrace its historical commitments and strongly defend what we all know is best for young children.

Sincerely,

Geralyn Bywater McLaughlin, Director of Defending the Early Years

Nancy Carlsson-Paige, Senior Advisor of Defending the Early Years and Professor Emerita at Lesley University

Diane Levin, Senior Advisor of Defending the Early Years and Professor of Early Childhood Education at Wheelock College

And members of the DEY National Advisory Board:

Sherry Cleary, Executive Director, New York City Early Childhood Professional Development Institute, City University of New York

Ayla Gavins, Principal, Mission Hill School, Boston

Stephanie Feeney, Professor Emerita, University of Hawaii at Manoa

Constance Kamii, Professor of Early Childhood Education, University of Alabama at Birmingham

Edgar Klugman, Professor Emeritus Wheelock College & Co Founder Playing for Keeps – An Initiative of the Association for Children’s Museums; Facilitator Play, Policy & Practice Interest Forum – NAEYC

Deborah Meier, senior scholar at NYU’s Steinhardt School, author and activist

And the following early childhood professionals:

Deborah Abelman, Ph.D., Early Childhood Education Supervisor, Strong Start, Family Service of Greater Boston, Inc.

Jeremy Arendt, Owner of Sprouts Home Day Care

Dr. Kelly A. Baker, Asst. Professor and Early Childhood Education Program Coordinator, University of Central Oklahoma

Angela Baum, Assistant Professor of Early Childhood Education, University of South Carolina

Margaret S. Benson, Ph. D. Assistant Professor of Human Development & Family Studies, Penn State Altoona, Altoona, PA.

Christy Bezrutczyk, Mom, Special Education Teacher, Curriculum Coordinator and Early Intervention/Preschool Administrator in Plattsburgh NY

Janet C. Bliss, Associate Professor, Department of Social Sciences & Education, Colby-Sawyer College, and Director of Windy Hill School (the college’s early childhood lab school)

Nathalie Borozny, Past President of Pennsylvania Association for the Education of Young Children

Susan Bumgarner, Pre-Kindergarten Teacher, Wilson Arts Integration Elementary School, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

Blakely Bundy, Executive Director of The Alliance for Early Childhood; Past President of Chicago Metro AEYC

Mimi Brodsky Chenfeld, teacher, writer, presenter

JoAnne Craig-Ferraz, Kindergarten and Elementary Education, Sacramento, CA

Lynn Cohen, Associate Professor, LIU/Post

Marjorie Cohn Dolan, MAT; ECE Instructor Broward College, FL; FL-AEYC Board Member

Jan Crow, M.Ed, Director Early Childhood Special Education and Title I Preschool Services, WSESU, Vermont

Denise Da Ros-Voseles, Professor, Department of Curriculum & Instruction, Northeastern State University

Sharon Davisson, Pacific Oaks College, Adjunct, School of Human Development and Family Studies

Gloria DeGaetano, M.Ed, Founder and CEO, Parent Coaching Institute, Adjunct Faculty Member, Seattle Pacific University

Lousie Derman-Sparks, Author, Consultant, Speaker, Anti-Bias Education with Children and Adults

Deborah DeLisle, Program Director, Hot Springs Community Learning Center, Hot Springs, NC

Renee Dinnerstein, Early Childhood Literacy Consultant, New York City

Dana C. Doyle, Professional Development Coordinator, Child Care Council of Westchester, Inc.

Diane Edwards, Associate Professor/Director of Teacher Education, Colby-Sawyer College

Jen Ensign, MS, Toddler Teacher at the Windy Hill School,Colby-Sawyer College’s Early Childhood Laboratory School and Adjunct Professor Infants and Toddlers, Colby-Sawyer College

Beverly Falk, Professor and Director, Graduate Programs in Early Childhood Education, The City College of New York

Megan Floyd, National Board Certified Teacher: Generalist/Early Childhood – Broadalbin-Perth CSD, NY

Dr. Vicki Folds, VP Education/Professional Development, Children of America

Nancy Freeman, Associate Professor of Early Childhood Education, University of South Carolina, Past President of the National Association of Early Childhood Teacher Educators (NAECTE)

Judy Goth-Owens, Professor, Child Development and Early Education, Lansing Community College,Lansing, Michigan

Christine Gerzon, early childhood activist, parenting coach

Karen Haigh, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Columbia College Chicago

Marilyn Hayward – Preschool Teacher and Early Years Consultant, South Australia. President of the Early Childhood Organisation (EChO) South Australia

Lorilee Herbert, Kindergarten Teacher and Early Childhood Advocate, South Hadley MA Public Schools

Carol A. Herbst, M.Ed., Early Childhood Educator, Bapchule, Arizona

Carol B. Hillman, author and early childhood educator

Carla M. Horwitz, EdD, Director, Calvin Hill Day Care Center & Kindergarten and Lecturer, Yale University Child Study Center

Mary Hynes-Berry, Erikson Institute, Chicago IL. author of Don’t Leave the Story in the Book (2011, TCP)

Tamar Jacobson, Chair, Department of Teacher Education, & Director of Early Childhood Program, Rider University, Lawrenceville, New Jersey

Susan Jensen, Early Childhood Educator

Linnea Johnson, Educational Therapist, Body Smart-Brain Smart

Sharman Johnston, early childhood educator and doctoral student, Texas Christian University

K. Craig Jones, Ph.D. Associate Professor of Early Childhood Education, University of West Florida

Jo Ann Joseph, Education Coordinator, Newark Preschool Council, Inc.

Carol R. Kautz, Calvary Children’s Center

Karel Kilimnik, M.Ed., retired teacher, Philadelphia School District

Margaret King, Professor Emerita, Early Childhood Teacher Education, Ohio University, Athens Ohio

Duane Kirksey, Education Coordinator for Dorothy Sutton Branch Head Start 8601 State Street Chicago Illinois

Tovah P. Klein, Ph.D, Director, Barnard College Center for Toddler Development and Associate Professor, Psychology Barnard College

L. Kozlowsky, Kindergarten teacher, New York City

Lisa P. Kuh, PhD, Assistant Professor Family Studies, P-3 Teacher Preparation Program Coordinator, University of New Hampshire

Marie Ellen Larcada

Amy S. Lasseter, Licensed Professional Counselor, Georgia (and mother to three children ages 5 and under)

Debbie LeeKeenan, Director, Eliot-Pearson Children’s School

Toni H. Liebman, Early Childhood Consultant

Amy Makice, LCSW, Therapist, Bloomington, Indiana

Flavia Mastellone, Program Advisor, Early Childhood Education, Berkshire Community College

Dr. Joan Scanlon McMath, Professor, Early Childhood, Ohio University

Paula McMurray-Schwarz, Associate Professor of Early Childhood Education, Ohio University Eastern Campus

Peggy McNamara Ed.D, Chair of General Teacher, Bank Street College of Education

Phyllis McWhorter, Technical Assistance in EC

Darrell Meece, Professor of Child Development, School of Education, University of Tennessee-Chattanooga.

Jeanne Millman, retired, Director of Early Childhood, Newburgh City School District, Newburgh, NY. and Adjunct Professor, Early Childhood, State University of New York, New Paltz.

Dianna Morton, MLS, Media Literacy Educator

Rabbi Meir Muller, PhD, Early Childhood Education Instruction and Teacher Education, University of South Carolina

Regina Nazzaro, Director, Russell J. Call Children’s Center, Northeastern University

Hannah Nissen, Associate Professor of Early Childhood Education, Ohio University Zanesville

Shanna Nowosielski, PreK teacher, Day Nursery Association, Indianapolis, IN

Anne E. Oberlin, MS, Early Field Experience Coordinator and Early Childhood Instructor, Ohio University

Lucía Obregón, M.Ed., Assistant Professor, Early Childhood Education, Miami Dade College

Leslie C. Oppenheimer, M.Ed., Curriculum Coordinator, Center for Young Children Laboratory School, University of Maryland

Cynthia Paris, PhD; Associate Professor; Director, UD Laboratory Preschool;           Coordinator, Graduate Certificate Programs in Early Childhood;University of Delaware

Jane P. Perry, Teacher Researcher Emeritas, Harold E. Jones Child Study Center, University of California, Berkeley

Rae Pica, Author and early childhood consultant

Barbara Plochman, Board of Trustees, Winnetka Public School Nursery and Advisory Board, The Alliance for Early Childhood

Juana Reyes, EdD, Assistant Professor, Chicago State University

Cindy Ryan, Assistant Professor of Early Childhood, College of Education, Western Oregon University

Gil Schmerler, Graduate Faculty, Bank Street College of Education

Stan Schwartz, Adjunct Professor of Education, Middlesex Community College; Consultant, School Committee member

Kelly Shehee, M.S.  Preschool teacher of 10 years which includes teaching at a co-op, university child center, and head start.  Currently raising my children and homeschooling.

Paulette Shreck, Ph.D., Professor of Early Childhood Education, University of Central Oklahoma, Edmond, Oklahoma

Jennifer Smallwood, MS,Ed., Director, YMCA’s Center for Children and Families; Adjunct Faculty Ivy Tech Community College School of Education,  Bloomington, Indiana

Andrianna Smyrniotis, Faculty, Child Development, ICC

Jim Sullivan, Assistant Professor, Early Childhood Education, Miami Dade College

John Surr, early childhood advocate

Maureen Sollars, Coordinator, All Our Kids: Early Childhood Network, McLean County Illinois; Member: National Association for the Education of Young Children, Illinois Association for the Education of Young Children Governing Board

Cadey Sontag, Detroit Public Schools, Head Start Teacher

Kelly Etu Stanton, Assistant Principal, Columbia Jewish Day School and Adjunct Faculty Member, College of Education, University of South Carolina

Nora Thompson, Early Childhood Special Education Teacher, Okemos, Michigan

Vicki D.Vick, Minnesota LqPV School District, Kindergarten teacher

Paula Ward, Pre-School Teacher at Pathfinder School, Traverse City, Michigan

Heidi Weiman, Professor of Child and Family Development, School of Education, American Public University

Amy Wolfe, M.S., CFLE; Assistant Professor of Education, WVU at Parkersburg

Bart Zehren, life long marketing researcher and, more important, the beneficiary of a life time spent with close family members who have done the real work of teaching young children with unending commitment and dedication as well as unbelievable resourcefulness, endurance and creativity.

To add your name to our letter, please email our director, Geralyn Bywater McLaughlin at geralynbywater@gmail.com. Write “Open Letter” in the subject line and please let us know how you would like to be identified. Thanks!