Kindergarten has become increasingly more focused on academic studies and less on exploration, social skill development, and play. This dramatic change in kindergarten is due to the “push-down effect” (aka the accountability shove-down) as academic content in all grades is being ramped up, making preschool the new kindergarten, kindergarten the new first grade, and so on. This has broad and oftentimes negative implications on the traditional kindergarten model that may create failure and anxiety in young children. This presentation will highlight the traditional kindergarten philosophy, the present state of kindergarten and the pressures on schools, teachers, parents and students to prepare children for mastery of literacy curriculums that do not match their cognitive and emotional levels of development. The presentation concludes with strategies teachers can implement to counter these changes
