Bolster the Building Blocks of Kindergarten

To the Editor:
Re 'Expectations for Kindergarten Have Risen, Putting Boys at a Disadvantage,' by Claire Cain Miller (The Upshot, June 9):
When kindergarten-age children — both boys and girls — get to build with blocks, paint, sing, playact, construct things and ask their urgent real-world questions ('How do squirrels balance like that?'), they are successful in school. A kindergarten curriculum should meet their needs. Right now, it's reversed.
Children are expected to meet the stated goals of an imposed curriculum. No wonder boys rebel. Children flourish when they are taught in ways that engage their active bodies and inquisitive minds and encourage their participation in group life. That's the best preparation for a full, happy and productive future, as well as the best preparation for first grade.
Julie DiamondNew YorkThe writer is a retired kindergarten teacher and the author of 'Kindergarten: A Teacher, Her Students and a Year of Learning.'
To the Editor:
We're able to see and understand the educational challenges explored in this article only because of national data sources like the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten. Yet shockingly, as the article points out, DOGE recently canceled the latest study, cutting off what would have been our first national look at the educational attainment of post-pandemic kindergartners, following them up as first- and third-graders.
This study delivers the only national longitudinal data we have on young children's development, learning, readiness and educational experiences. It informs what children know when they enter school, helps diagnose where and why students are falling behind, and ensures that public dollars go to strategies that actually work.
Without studies like this, federal policymakers, state authorities and school communities are at a significant disadvantage — working hard to strengthen early childhood education and set students on a path to success, but without all the information needed to guide smart, targeted improvements.
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