The Alliance for Childhood recently released a report ("Crisis in the Kindergarten") that should be required reading for all early-childhood educators and parents of kindergartners.

According to this new report, "Many kindergartens in (our country) spend two to three hours per day instructing and testing children in literacy and math -- with only 30 minutes per day or less for play. The importance of play in kindergarten has been documented beyond question ... yet play is rapidly disappearing!"

The report states, "Twenty years ago a North Carolina study found that kindergarten teachers felt their students were under significant stress from an increasingly academic curriculum. Today there are mounting reports of stressed-out kindergartners, behavior problems including uncontrollable anger and aggression, and expulsion of young children from school, a problem that is particularly severe for young boys."

If, at your child's kindergarten screening, you were handed a list of sight words, or were asked if your child is reading yet, you might have wondered what happened to "learning how to make friends" and "play cooperatively?" If you have taken a look inside a kindergarten classroom lately, you will understand why kindergarten is being called the "new first grade." In some schools, kindergarteners are taking spelling tests, a practice astoundingly developmentally inappropriate. Assigning homework in kindergarten is also on the rise. Astonishingly, 4- and 5-year-olds who have little or no playtime at school are now being assigned homework that is crowding out potential quality family togetherness and playtime at home.

As a pediatric speech pathologist, it is disheartening to see that some schools continue to follow a push-down-approach with a misguided belief that earlier is better. As a mother and a clinician, I support having an intellectually stimulating curriculum. Parents and teachers alike want our children to be challenged, engaged and excited by school. "Crisis in Kindergarten" describes, however, that any early gains in test scores fade by fourth grade.

The accelerated kindergarten programs can do damage. Children who are very bright but just "not ready" to do certain academic tasks experience failure and frustration. The children who adapt to the early academic standards often become disengaged and burned out as reading and writing becomes a chore rather than the journey of discovery it can be. With little play time and shorter recesses, "behavior problems" in kindergarten are on the rise, especially for more active girls and boys.

When educators talk about learning through play, parents may imagine children running amok in a disorganized, unstructured classroom. However, kindergarten teachers who understand the interdependency of play and cognitive development can prepare the environment with hands-on learning materials and periods of facilitated social play time that are organized, mindful, highly educational and motivating.

No Child Left Behind has put educators between a rock and a hard place. It's going to take strong advocacy from parents and informed leadership from school administrators to reverse this well-intentioned, but fundamentally flawed trend. If you want to advocate for high-quality research-based kindergarten education, let your teachers and principals know you value play. Share the report, "Crisis in The Kindergarten," with others in your district. A summary of the research findings and the full report (Crisis in the Kindergarten: Why Children Need to Play In School) can be found at www.allianceforchildhood.org in PDF format for downloading.

As a mother of young children, I treasure this fleeting period of life, the one and only summer my kids have to be 4 and 6. How am I preparing them for school? We are taking long walks outside, doing cartwheels on the grass, making up stories, playing made-up games, getting dirty, trying to catch frogs, turtles, butterflies, and fish. These are the experiences that will inform their development as individuals and feed their curiosity about the world, not phonics or math.