Summary
This blog post will analyze common core curriculum and its focus on teaching to achieve certain standardized testing outcomes, which affects early childhood development. Curriculum frameworks for early childhood education in Massachusetts are compared with science and data concerning early childhood development, along with the teacher’s role in ensuring the best outcomes for our youngest students.
By: Erin Doane, JHBL Staffer
Theorists, scientists, policymakers, and others repeatedly study the maturation of the human brain.[1] The first five years of a child’s life are extremely formative, as brain development during this period directly affects future brain function.[2] Through the beginning of early childhood, millions of chemical pathways and connections form in the brain every second, which allow children to develop vision, hearing, language, motor skills, and eventually, more advanced cognitive functions.[3] This rapid development of brain function continues for about five years, then ultimately slows and compartmentalizes each sensory pathway to carry out its specific purpose.[4] It is, therefore, essential that the education children receive in their earliest years reflects the significance of this period of life and adequately fosters the invaluable, and irreversible, rapid brain development during this time.[5]
In Massachusetts, children become eligible for preschool at two years and nine months, and enter kindergarten at five years old, according to the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (hereinafter DESE).[6] The state follows a common core curriculum model that puts forward curriculum frameworks, drafted by the Board of Education (hereinafter Board), for each grade level.[7] These frameworks highlight learning goals and benchmarks that students should meet at the close of each academic year to achieve high levels of academic performance.[8] School districts, teachers, and administrators decide what materials to present to students, but must keep DESE’s common core at the center of their lesson plan decisions.[9] Specific guidelines outline the framework educators must follow for early childhood and preschool level learning.[10] On their face, these guidelines center on the social and emotional development of the child, but place an extreme focus on doctrinal areas such as math, science, and English language arts.[11]
Curriculum frameworks in Massachusetts established one of the strongest public education systems in the country; however, an excessive emphasis on standardized testing outcomes limits the attention given to crucial elements of early childhood development such as play and hands-on learning.[12] This oversight hinders teachers from supporting the biological and developmental needs of students in the preschool curriculum.[13] The 2023 curriculum framework in Massachusetts updates physical and health education guidelines to be more inclusive of LGBTQ+ communities.[14] While this is a major step toward inclusivity, it places more doctrinal checkpoints, including recognizing biological terms and setting personal goals, on young students who grow best with play-based and interactive learning.[15] Further, there have not been curriculum updates specific to early childhood learning since 2019.[16] In a post-pandemic world, where social development of children is a heightened concern, it seems a disservice that DESE does not update frameworks for learning more frequently to reflect the types of activities that nurture early brain development.[17] Following the pandemic, studies show children who experienced their most formative years in lock down without adequate social interaction and play-based learning are set back significantly in social-emotional, cognitive and motor development.[18] Data from these studies highlights the importance of interaction between young students.[19] Framework updates every three to five years, or collaborative lesson plan development would allow for open discussion between teachers and policy makers about what may need to change to allow for the best outcomes for early childhood development.[20]
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (hereinafter CDC) sets forth guidelines for parenting preschool-aged children as they develop over their formative years.[21] These tips emphasize the importance of allowing children to develop skills through action, play, and basic problem-solving.[22] The CDC explains goals for children ages three to five, which include hopping on one foot, developing language, increasing curiosity, naming colors, and social-emotion development such as showing affection.[23] While core principles for preschool education in Massachusetts include the same types of brain development checkpoints, DESE’s framework is not synonymous with these goals, given the agency’s focus on doctrinal subjects and inclusion of higher level topics such as algebra.[24]
About seventy percent of DESE’s preschool framework includes curriculum in math, sciences, and English language arts.[25] Presenting these subjects to preschoolers, places too much structured information on young minds that require extensive physical movement, exploration, and creativity for proper development of foundational skills and emotions.[26] DESE devotes only forty pages of an almost 200-page framework to detailing goals for social-emotional development, early-stage language and speech, and play and movement based learning through the arts, exploratory, and collaborative learning.[27] While potentially beneficial to children’s intelligence, the minds of three, four, and five-year-old students cannot handle that level of information and instruction.[28] Further, since DESE has not updated the framework since 2019, teachers cannot advocate for and implement age-appropriate and biologically beneficial lesson plans based on updated research and guidelines.[29]
Young brains develop through a complex biological process that requires a tremendous amount of support in cognitive stimulation, social-emotional engagement, and physical movement.[30] While Massachusetts created a guideline for educators, it does not place appropriate weight on play-based, social-emotional, and movement-based learning.[31] Additionally, DESE provides these “common” frameworks; however, schools risk discontinuity when interpreting and implementing these guidelines into lesson plans.[32] This risk stems from ambiguity in the curriculum guides which lay out expectations, but note that each teacher or school system may choose to implement them differently class by class, or even student by student.[33] A potential remedy is to provide a section of the framework that specifically accounts for students’ different ability levels, or provides full model lesson plans. To nurture the crucial development of young minds, decisionmakers must place increased focus on teachers’ applied knowledge of successful curriculum and science-based development standards outlined by the CDC. Failing to foster the foundational pathways in children’s developing brains adequately prior to introducing advanced topics and structure could harm the overall social wellness of children as they mature.
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Disclaimer: The views expressed in this blog are the views of the author alone and do not represent the views of JHBL or Suffolk University Law School.
Erin Doane is a second-year law student at Suffolk University Law School, interested in litigation and health law. She graduated with a bachelor’s degree in political science and health policy & management from Providence College in 2022.
[1] See Theresa M. McDevitt et al., Child Development and Education 4-20 (Pearson, 2012).
[2] See CDC, Positive Parenting Tips: Preschooler (3-5 Years), CDC Child Dev. (May 16, 2024), https://www.cdc.gov/child-development/positive-parenting-tips/preschooler-3-5-years.html [https://perma.cc/Z5ZT-9LXH].
[3] See id.; Harvard Univ., InBrief: The Science of Early Childhood Development, Harvard Univ. Ctr. on the Developing Child (2007), https://developingchild.harvard.edu/resources/inbrief-science-of-ecd/ [https://perma.cc/6WFE-UHQX]; Jose A. Ramos, Why the First Five Years of Child Development are so Important, All for Kids (Apr. 25, 2023), https://www.allforkids.org/news/blog/why-the-first-5-years-of-child-development-are-so-important/ [https://perma.cc/4ZPN-29FF].
[4] See Havard Univ., supra note 3.
[5] See id.; Ramos, supra note 3.
[6] See dese, Kindergarten Entry Age, Mass. Dep’t of Elementary & Secondary Educ. (July 9, 2024), https://www.doe.mass.edu/sfs/earlylearning/resources/entry.aspx [https://perma.cc/7ALC-GKZ5]; Exec. Off. Of Educ. & Care, Commonwealth Preschool Partnership Initiative Grantees, Mass. gov. (2024), https://www.mass.gov/info-details/commonwealth-preschool-partnership-initiative-grantees (last visited Oct. 11, 2024); Carrie Jung, Report Finds Preschool Access Expanded in Mass. and Across Country Last Year, WBUR (Apr. 18, 2024), https://www.wbur.org/news/2024/04/18/preschool-access-massachusetts-childcare [https://perma.cc/SS7D-4VA4] (stating three to four year old enrollment increased in last year).
[7] See Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 69, § 1(e).
[8] See id.
[9] See id.; dese, Massachusetts Learning Standards, Mass. Dep’t of Elementary & Secondary Educ., https://www.doe.mass.edu/frameworks/ [https://perma.cc/5PLD-83QZ] (stating frameworks create standardized access and expectations in education delivery).
[10]See Exec. Off. of Educ. & Care, Guidelines for Preschool Learning Experiences, Mass. gov., https://www.mass.gov/info-details/guidelines-for-preschool-learning-experiences [https://perma.cc/L56X-CXZ4] [hereinafter Mass. Guidelines]; Dep’t of Elementary and Secondary Educ.,Guidelines for Preschool and Kindergarten Learning and Experiences, Mass. gov., https://www.mass.gov/doc/guidelines-for-preschool-learning-experiences-updated-november-2019/download [https://perma.cc/63SF-LJVB] (last updated Nov. 2019) [hereinafter Mass. Preschool Framework].
[11] See Exec. Off. of Educ. & Care, Preschool and Kindergarten Standards in Social-Emotional Development and Approaches to Play and Learning, Mass. gov., https://www.mass.gov/info-details/preschool-and-kindergarten-standards-in-social-emotional-development-and-approaches-to-play-and-learning (last visited Oct. 14, 2024).; Mass. Guidelines, supra note 10, at 6-15.
[12] See Neal Riley, Massachusetts Has the Best School Systems in the Country, Report Says, CBS Boston (July 24, 2024, 9:35 AM), https://www.cbsnews.com/boston/news/massachusetts-best-school-systems-2024/# [https://perma.cc/9KEK-2JED] (stating Massachusetts ranks first in median standardized testing scores); Shannon Larson, Massachusetts Has the Best Public School Systems in the Country, According to WalletHub Study, The Bos. Globe (July 23, 2024, 5:04 PM),
https://www.bostonglobe.com/2024/07/23/metro/massachusetts-public-school-systems [https://perma.cc/KN3E-HS8S] (discussing Massachusetts’ top-quality rating based on standardized and advanced placement test scores); see also Massachusetts Early Childhood Policy Landscape, All. for Early Success, https://earlysuccess.org/massachusetts [https://perma.cc/YRZ8-VUWJ] (last visited Oct. 9, 2024) (discussing early education improvements reached through investments and equity).
[13] See Massachusetts Early Childhood Policy Landscape, supra note 12 (discussing early education improvements achieved through investments and equity).
[14] See Dep’t of Elementary & Secondary Educ., Draft Health Curriculum Framework (July 2023), Mass. gov., https://www.doe.mass.edu/frameworks/health/2023-07-health-draft.pdf [https://perma.cc/YVV5-KBPV]; Sam Drysdale, Mass. board of education approves first health curriculum update since 1999, WBUR (Sept. 20, 2023) https://www.wbur.org/news/2023/09/19/massachusets-sex-education-health-lgbt [https://perma.cc/2XQN-XFL4].
[15] See Draft Health Curriculum Framework (July 2023), supra note 14; McDevitt et al., supra note 1; Positive Parenting Tips: Preschooler (3-5 Years), supra note 2.
[16] See Mass. Preschool Framework, supra note 10, at 12-13.
[17] See Hannah Guevara, How Has COVID-19 Impacted Infants and Toddlers’ Social Development?, First Five Years Fund (Sept. 9, 2022), https://www.ffyf.org/resources/2022/09/how-has-covid-19-impacted-infants-and-toddlers-social-development/ [https://perma.cc/5KZK-U2MS].
[18] See id.
[19] See id.
[20] See Dep’t of Elementary & Secondary Educ., Creating Curriculum Units at the Local Level, Mass. gov. (Sept. 2013), https://www.mass.gov/doc/creating-model-curriculum-units-at-the-local-level-an-interactive-guide/download [https://perma.cc/B5BD-PFFG].
[21] See Positive Parenting Tips: Preschooler (3-5 Years), supra note 2. The updated health and physical education guidelines put in place a set of standards teachers must meet in addition to DESE’s preschool curriculum framework. Id. These checkpoints are to be met by second grade, yet still place more high-level criteria on young students such as understanding the media’s impact on food consumption, strategies for managing stress, and more. Id.
[22] See id.
[23] See id.
[24] See Mass. Preschool Framework, supra note 10, at 6-13. DESE frameworks provide curriculum guidelines for each subject involved which are broken into tiers that students should achieve as they develop. Id. There are tiers devoted to early childhood, preschool learning that explain options for play based learning and recognize its importance. Id. at 17-19. Even these guidelines however require engagement and focus beyond the capacity of a young child, for example requiring pre-kindergarten students to understand the relationship between numbers in early math instruction. Id. at 80.
[25] See id. at 6-10.
[26] See McDevitt et al., supra note 1, at 20.
[27] See Mass. Preschool Framework, supra note 10, at 6-10.
[28] See McDevitt et al., supra note 1, at 20
[29] See Mass. Preschool Framework, supra note 10, at 12-13; Drysdale, supra note 14.
[30] See Kathleen Mazor, Unlocking Potential: Nurturing Young Minds in Early Childhood, The Human Journeyhttps://humanjourney.us/health/education-for-a-changing-world/unlocking-potential-nurturing-young-minds-in-early-childhood (last visited Oct. 9, 2024) [https://perma.cc/JN7R-B2M7].
[31] See id.; Mass. Preschool Framework, supra note 10, at 12-15.
[32] See Havard Uni., supra note 3.
[33] See Mass. Preschool Framework, supra note 10, at 12-13.