Challenging Myths

A new report from the Foundation for Child Development debunks three common school reform myths that undermine efforts to improve schooling in the early elementary school years:

Myth 1: Elementary Schools Are Just Fine; Problems Begin Later. A widespread perception that elementary schools are doing fine, thanks, or that school reformers have already “fixed” elementary schools, has led many advocates and policymakers to focus on middle- and high-school reforms, to the exclusion of elementary shcools. To be sure, our middle and high schools are in need of reforms. But reforms that focus on the middle and high school years alone are being built on a very shaky foundation. Evidence from the National Assessment of Educational Progress and other research shows that a major reason our middle and high schools struggle is that too many children arrive in middle and high school without the skills or knowledge they need to tackle the middle and high school curriculum, due to the poor quality of education in many elementary schools. Thus, any effort to improve the results of our middle and high schools must be accompanied by reforms that improve our elementary schools to ensure all students enter middle school with a solid academic foundation.

Myth 2: Good PreK Programs Guarantee Later Success. Advocates and policymakers have sought increased investment in PreK education programs, promising that these investments will improve student achievement and help narrow achievement gaps. Yet while research shows that quality PreK programs can have positive long-term effects on students’ learning and educational attainment, research also shows that many fo the benefits of PreK are squandered when children proceed to poor-quality elementary school programs that don’t build on PreK learning gains. The most effective reform strategies marry quality PreK with reforms to public elementary schools to sustain long-term learning gains.

Myth 3: Solving the Fourth-Grade Slump Will Reverse Widespread Underachievement. Researchers have identified fourth grade as the time when many children seem to fall behind academically and become disengaged in school. Yet in fact, these students’ problems begin before fourth grade, when the early elementary grades fail to give them the foundational skills they need to make the shift from “learning to read” to “reading to learn,” which occurs in fourth grade. To prevent students from falling behind in fourth grade, educators and policymakers must ensure that the early elementary years prepare students with the foundational skills they need to make this shift.

This report explains why policymakers and education reformers need to focus on the PreK-3rd curriculum and on building alignment between PreK, kindergarten, and the early elementary school grades. Future FCD reports will explore how they can do so. You can read the full report here.