When Aylah Levy started first grade this autumn, she had some catching up to do.
Aylah, six, had to get used to being in a classroom after attending an alternative programme that met only outside throughout her kindergarten year. She was not typing her letters clearly and knew very few numbers. Her elementary school teacher in the Bay Area has been demonstrating proper pencil grip for her to aid her along the way.
“It is more difficult. Much, much harder, Aylah said of the new hold.
Hannah Levy, her mother, insisted that skipping kindergarten was the proper choice. She desired for Aylah to relish her childhood. She figured her daughter would have plenty of time to learn how to study.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, kindergarten enrollment in public schools fell precipitously. Hundreds of thousands of families postponed their young children’s first day of school because they were worried about the virus or because they wanted to avoid online learning. Even three years after the pandemic school closures, kindergarten enrollment has not increased, despite the fact that the majority have returned to some form of education.
Like Levy, some parents don’t think regular kindergarten is all that valuable. For some, it’s about placing kids in alternative child care programmes that better suit their way of life. Another indication of how the epidemic and online learning upended the American educational system is the fact that kindergarten is no longer, for many, the presumptive first step in a child’s formal education.
Kindergarten is regarded as a critical year for children to learn how to follow instructions, control their behaviour, and adjust to school. Children who miss that school year may be at a disadvantage, particularly those from low-income households and those whose mother tongue is not English, according to Deborah Stipek, a former dean of Stanford University’s Graduate School of Education. Even before they enter school, the kids may fall behind in letter recognition and 10-counting, according to her.
But after the pandemic, some parents don’t feel as strongly about that basis. Many others find that kindergarten is simply not a good fit for them.
Returning to school have been students who dropped out during the pandemic school closures. However, an Associated Press review of state-level statistics shows that kindergarten enrollment decreased by 5.2% in the 2022–20 school year compared to the 2019–20 school year. Enrollment in public schools decreased by 2.2% for all grades.
For some families, kindergarten signifies a drastic shift in their way of life. They manage afternoon pickups with few and expensive after-school care options, following years of providing full-day child care. Some parents are concerned that their child isn’t prepared for the rules and expectations for behaviour in a public school setting. And many believe whatever their kid doesn’t get can be swiftly picked up in first grade in school.
Before learning that her daughter would not have a space in the after-school programme at her neighbourhood school in Oakland, Christina Engram was prepared to send her daughter Nevaeh to kindergarten this autumn. That implied that most afternoons at 2:30 she would need to be picked up.
Engram, a mother of two and preschool teacher, stated, “I would have to cut my hours and I basically wouldn’t have a good income for me and my kids if I put her in public school.”
Nevaeh was placed in a creche for an additional year by Engram’s decision. Engram is eligible for a state subsidy on child care, which assists her in covering the cost of full-time creche or preschool until her child turns six and needs to start first grade.
She felt that at the child care centre, where there are more adult staff members per kid, her daughter would be more likely to receive extra attention than in kindergarten.
“She is aware of her figures. She’s familiar with her ABCs. Engram said, “She can spell her name correctly. However, she becomes overwhelmed with frustration when she realises she is powerless to solve the problem. She need more consideration and care. When she fears that she won’t give the right response, she exhibits some timidity.
Kindergarten attendance decreased 10.1% in California, where it is not required, during the 2019–20 and 2021–22 academic years. The next school year, enrollment appeared to somewhat recover, increasing by more than 5% in the fall of 2022; however, this figure might have been inflated by the state’s introduction of transitional kindergarten, a grade below kindergarten that is open to older 4-year-olds. The number of kids in the previous school year who were ordinary kindergarteners as opposed to transitional students has not been made public by the state Department of Education.
Among the tens of thousands of families who have resorted to homeschooling are many prospective kindergarteners.
Some parents claim that they almost happened onto homeschooling. They kept their five-year-old home because they felt their family wasn’t ready for “school,” but soon realised they needed more order.
Some made the decision to homeschool their kindergarteners after observing older students in conventional classrooms. After removing his 9-year-old sister Emma from a Chino, California, school, Jenny Almazan is homeschooling Ezra, who is 6 years old.
After school, she would race home, eat dinner, concentrate on homework for an hour or two, take a shower, and go to bed. She wasn’t allowed to have her childhood,” Almazan claimed. Almazan was also concerned about school shootings and potential peer pressure for her children to behave or dress a certain way.
Almazan left her work as a preschool teacher in order to make everything work. The majority of the time, kids learn outside of the house—when playing at the park, going to museums, or even practicing arithmetic while grocery shopping.
“Not attending public school does not mean my kids are missing anything,” the mother claimed. Each child’s demands are unique. I’m not advocating against public education. It’s not. However, this works for us.
All children should attend kindergarten, but it’s especially crucial for those who don’t go to preschool or haven’t had much experience with arithmetic, reading, and other topics, according to Steve Barnett, a professor at Rutgers University and co-director of the National Institute for Early Education Research.
He said, “The real question is: What did you do if you didn’t go to kindergarten?”
Hannah Levy like how instructors integrated science and environmental education into their classes, which is one of the reasons she decided to start her daughter’s education at Berkeley Forest School.
When it came time for first grade, Aylah enrolled at Cornell Elementary in Albany, saying, “I learned about nature. We learned in a different way,” according to her daughter. However, the family had moved from San Francisco due to the allure of a suburban school system. Levy recalled that Aylah came home early this fall with a project where each first grader had a page in a book to write about who they were; some pages had only scribbles, while others had legible print. She said Aylah fell somew
Aylah’s instructor told Levy during a conference that she was helping the youngster with her writing and that there were no other issues. “Whatever Aylah was behind on, she caught up so she wouldn’t distinguish that Aylah didn’t attend Cornell for kindergarten as well,” Levy claimed.
Levy expressed her satisfaction with Aylah’s approach to learning, even though she wishes she could spend more time outside experiencing the outdoors.
Aylah concurs as well.
She remarked, “I miss being outside and my friends.” “I miss my favourite teacher as well.”
EdSource and I co-published this article. Based in California, EdSource is a nonprofit newsroom that uses data-driven journalism and in-depth analysis to cover educational inequalities.
