Focus on U.S. immigration and U.S. education: The United States effectively achieves a smooth transition from preschool to elementary school, primarily reflected in the alignment of educational institutions, educational environments, teaching staff, and curriculum standards. An analysis of these four aspects of alignment may provide a new perspective for the discussion of "de-schoolification" in China and offer some references for integrating preschool education into compulsory education.
For quite some time, some domestic early childhood education institutions have opened courses related to elementary school to cater to parents' concerns about their children falling behind at the starting line. This has led to the current phenomenon of "de-schoolification" in kindergarten education. In response, the Ministry of Education issued a notice in December 2011 titled "Notice on Regulating Kindergarten Care and Education Work, Preventing and Correcting the 'De-Schoolification' Phenomenon," to curb the introduction of elementary school curriculum content in kindergartens. This has sparked discussions in China about whether elementary school content should be taught at the preschool stage.
Research has found that there is no discussion of "de-schoolification" in the preschool stage in the United States. On the contrary, the "weak" U.S. basic education allows children to have a fulfilling time in preschool, facilitating a smooth transition to elementary education. Even though most U.S. preschool classes and elementary schools dismiss at 2 or 3 PM, there is no phenomenon similar to the proliferation of interest classes seen in China. The United States effectively achieves a smooth transition from preschool to elementary school, primarily reflected in the alignment of educational institutions, educational environments, teaching staff, and curriculum standards. An analysis of these four aspects of alignment may provide a new perspective for the discussion of "de-schoolification" in China and offer some references for integrating preschool education into compulsory education.
Ensuring a smooth transition between preschool and first grade through institutional guarantees
From the perspective of educational settings, since the implementation of the Early Childhood Education Act in 1990, the year before children enter elementary school is considered part of the compulsory education stage in the United States. Therefore, in practice, this one-year preschool class (Kindergarten) belongs to public elementary schools and follows the same schedule and activity arrangements as the elementary school stage. From the perspective of management institutions, the U.S. Department of Education does not have a dedicated department for preschool education management; instead, it is uniformly managed by the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education, which provides financial assistance to state and local educational institutions to maintain and improve both public and private preschool education as well as elementary and secondary education.
Children in the same campus preschool class and first grade must adhere to the same regulations during waiting, dining, sports events, library reading activities, and other campus learning and living experiences. In this process, a psychological atmosphere of mutual acceptance is created between preschool and first-grade children. Additionally, the arrangement of the teaching environment is primarily based on the age characteristics of the children, maintaining appropriate layout settings. For example, ensuring that the height of desks and chairs is suitable for the physical development of students, arranging desks and chairs in groups of five or six students to facilitate various group activities, and decorating the classroom with alphabet charts, pictures, student work display areas, craft tool areas, and reading areas to facilitate various group activities and presentations.
Emphasizing the role of practice in teacher training
In the United States, preschool education includes the period from birth until the age of eight, covering all time segments between preschool and third grade. Therefore, the definition of preschool education already ensures a connection between preschool and elementary education, which helps guarantee the alignment of teaching staff. Under the emphasis and guidance of national policy, the training methods for preschool teachers in the United States have continuously improved, forming a high starting point, well-structured, and highly operational teacher education training system. In the U.S., early childhood educators in public schools must have teaching qualifications and undergo field experience and practicum, which significantly ensures the quality of preschool education and the overall development of teachers. Students who wish to become teachers must complete relevant courses in teacher education programs and pass the national Praxis 1 and Praxis 2 exams. These procedures help minimize human interference and solidify the theoretical knowledge of preschool education. Furthermore, the focus on practical components for teacher education students highlights the importance of experience for preschool teachers. Generally, universities require students aspiring to enter the preschool teaching profession to complete a full semester of internship at two different preschool institutions, allowing them to understand the operations of different early childhood institutions, encounter more cases, and provide sufficient time to understand the personalities and developmental characteristics of different students, applying classroom knowledge to practice and learning communication skills with various types of children, their parents, and even principals and teachers.
Common Core State Standards promote interstate educational alignment
In June 2010, the United States issued the Common Core State Standards, which primarily include standards for language, mathematics, science, technology, and other subjects. These standards start from the preschool stage and set major standards for 13 grades from K-12 across various subjects. For example, in the language standards, both preschool and first-grade stages have established standards for literary reading, informational text reading, foundational skills, writing, speaking and listening, and language knowledge. These standards demonstrate a good alignment between the two stages while not negating the knowledge teaching content of the preschool stage. Moreover, the formulation of language standards is more comprehensive, far exceeding the traditional four aspects of listening, speaking, reading, and writing. For instance, the reading section includes both literary and informational reading. The preschool stage emphasizes adult assistance, learning new vocabulary, and group reading activities, effectively improving students' reading levels by utilizing the knowledge gaps among students. In contrast, the first-grade stage focuses more on cultivating children's comprehension and expression abilities, exploring the emotional meanings of words, and beginning to engage with different literary forms such as poetry and prose. It is evident that the preschool stage lays the foundation for vocabulary accumulation and reading methods for first-grade learning, enabling first-grade teachers to help students appreciate the emotional nuances of vocabulary, thereby understanding the essence of reading.
By incorporating preschool education into the compulsory education stage, the United States effectively ensures a smooth transition between preschool and elementary education. At the same time, the Common Core State Standards emphasize the interstate nature of standards, requiring a gradual increase in text difficulty, greater use of technology to share information and concepts, and the establishment of a content-rich curriculum, all of which ensure effective alignment between preschool education and elementary education.