London Calling: Are Early Ed Standards in England Tougher Than America?

Those British accents sure make them sound intelligent, but are preschoolers in England smarter than American preschoolers? Associated Press reporter Nancy Zuckerbrod posed the question last week. Zuckerbrod and her family just moved to London, and she was surprised to find that her charming 5-year old daughter was “behind” academically according to the standards of her prospective English primary school. Back in Washington, D.C., where Zuckerbrod’s daughter attended publicly funded pre-k, she had been a star student: curious, played well with others, an all-around good kid. Meanwhile, peers her age in England, the school told Zuckerbrod, were expected to be reading by themselves and understand fractions.

So are early education standards really higher in England? Early Ed Watch took a look at the English Curriculum Guidance for the Foundation Stage, which has been operating in English preschool (“reception”) classes since 2002. We compared those standards with those from two U.S. states–Georgia, which has the nation’s oldest universal pre-k system, and Massachusetts, which is generally regarded as having some of the nation’s strongest academic standards (and is now en route to universal pre-k)-as well as the District of Columbia, where Zuckerbrod’s daughter had previously attended pre-k.

The verdict: Publicly defined standards for pre-k programs in the United States are pretty similar to those for our friends across the pond. There are some differences, however, especially in early literacy standards. English 5-year olds are expected to be reading “a range of familiar and common words and simple sentences” and be able to “write their own names and other things such as labels and captions,” and “beginning to form simple sentences, sometimes using punctuation.” Kids in the United States, by contrast, may not even be expected to know all letters of the alphabet, though the American standards put greater emphasis on reading comprehension.

Contrary to the expectations of the particular school Zuckerbrod visited, English standards don’t actually say kindergarteners need to master fractions. Massachusetts standards, though, do say they should be working to “observe and manipulate concrete examples of whole and half.” In fact on math, the American standards go further, encouraging teachers to have preschoolers create graphs (Georgia), measure distance and weight (Georgia and D.C.), and even “use estimation in meaningful ways and follow up by verifying the accuracy of estimations” (Massachusetts). Overall, American standards seem to put more emphasis on a child’s curiosity and investigation skills while English standards have more concrete, measurable performance indicators.

So is the difference that English preschools are turning out little Lord Tennysons while American preschools are designed to produce Einsteins? Not really. The difference comes not in how the standards read on paper, but in how they are implemented.

Standards documents are a good indicator of what children should be learning, but they can’t tell us what kids aren’t learning, since many skills may be implied in standards even if they are not articulated. In the case of England, we are also talking about a slightly different set of kids: the English Foundation Years extend through age five (to include the American kindergarten year), while most of the standards we looked at are for pre-k (typically age four in the United States), which may account for some of the differences in expectations.

In addition to the standards we read on paper, we must also consider the infrastructure that undergirds these standards. Pre-K standards in the United States vary from state to state: Some states (such as Georgia) have very detailed standards directly tied to performance assessments. Others are less extensive, and some don’t have any kind of early education standards at all. But in many cases these standards are actually loose guidelines that may be followed up with rigorous assessment.

England, by contrast, has a National Curriculum for all primary and secondary schools in England (and Wales). In 2002, Parliament extended the National Curriculum to include the foundation stage (ages 3-5, though schooling is mandatory only starting at age 5), including a single national assessment system. All schools that receive government funding must complete “profile assessments” that measure how well they are working towards the Early Learning Guidelines. The results are available to parents as report cards if they request them.

The English system is not fully comparable to the American system. Most obviously, the federal government, cannot mandate curriculum. States, however, can learn a lot from the English system. England has aligned standards (in their case, nationwide), which promote accountability and increases transparency about student achievement. They have a regular assessment scheme that ensures that the standards are worth more than the paper they are printed on. Most of all, the curriculum is fully integrated into the primary school system as a stepping stone for achievement in later grades. Standards are there not simply to ensure health and safety standards in a childcare setting, but are seen as a crucial part of the student’s academic development.

Some in England have expressed concern that the standards and assessment regime in the early years may be too stressful on kids and that it pushes instruction to be more subject-oriented than child-centered. These are valid concerns that policymakers in the United States should look at as they go about designing their own pre-k and PK-3 standards. Yet English instructors on the whole report that having standards helps them develop better, more detailed lesson plans. English researchers have also credited a multi-million dollar early literacy effort (launched in 1997) with dramatic increase in 11-year olds’ literacy exam scores.

As more and more states join the pre-k club and beef up their early ed standards, they should take close note of the success and trials of other states (and countries) that have gone before them. Along the way it is important to remember that designing standards is not just about crafting a cleanly-worded document. It is about creating a system that encourages quality and ensures that all children have a safe and academically rich early childhood experience.