Rigor and Developmental Science: Focusing On the Sweet Spot

By Judy Kuan

Academic rigor is upheld widely in education, as is developmental science. But how often do we see the two converge, and what potential does that convergence hold in pre-K-3 education?

According to Dr. William Teale, who is the Director of the University of Illinois at Chicago Center for Literacy, it is fairly easy but less effective to implement either academic rigor or developmentally-appropriate instruction on its own.  The more challenging but effective road to higher achievement in early grade literacy is to implement a strategy that integrates both approaches. In that combined approach, the focus on academic rigor, skills teaching, and direct instruction are merged with developmentally-appropriate instruction, play-based curricula, and developmental science. He also emphasized that content & literacy fusion with other areas of study that are getting pushed out of pre-K-3 education (science, social studies, social/emotional) is necessary for students’ long-term achievement. Teachers can find better success by teaching students with academic rigor through teaching skills as part of creative and purposeful activities, that in turn can be extended beyond the classroom and generate “real life” experiences.

Dr. Douglas Clements, the Professor Executive Director of the Marsico Institute for Early Learning and Literacy at the University of Denver, offered a complementary perspective for improving children’s future academic success by addressing early childhood math with a combination of rigor and developmental science. Data shows that early math is highly predictive of future academic success, and that pre-K and kindergarten kids’ potential in math often far exceeds their teachers’ expectations. By realigning teachers’ expectations to match children’s learning trajectories, and by providing them with effective tools for providing children with appropriate early math intervention, schools can boost results for all student groups while also narrowing the performance gap for underprivileged students - in the current academic year and well beyond.

In order to implement this more effective approach of combining academic rigor with developmental science, it is important to build the capacity of pre-K-3 leadership. Along those lines, the NAESP has developed and set forth 6 competencies that characterize effective leadership of Pre-K-3 learning communities, including the following, excerpted from the NAESP Leading Pre-K-3 Learning Communities guide:

1. Embrace the Pre-K-3 early learning continuum: Effective principals embrace a concept of high-quality early learning from age 3 to grade 3 as the foundation for children’s developmental growth.
2. Ensure developmentally-appropriate teaching: Effective principals ensure quality, supported by a system of standards, developmentally-appropriate curriculum, and assessments that work together to help foster children’s learning and growth.
3. Provide personalized, blended learning environments: Effective principals provide welcoming, collaborative learning environments that support personalized learning, including the effective use of technology.
4. Use multiple measures to guide student learning growth: Effective principals use multiple measures to assess student progress and support student learning growth.
5. Build professional capacity across the learning community: Effective principals build collaborative working environments that support the professional growth of all who work in then.
6. Make your school the hub of Pre-K-3 learning for families and community: Effective principals work with families, prekindergarten programs, and community organizations to build strong Pre-K-3 linkages.

Clearly, developing and fostering these 6 competencies would be difficult to achieve on one’s own, which is why NAESP is creating a training program to help principals with developing these competencies. To prepare our young students to successfully navigate the challenges ahead in older grade levels, it is critical to provide our school leadership with the foundational skills and support they need to be effective stewards of early childhood education.

—Judy Kuan, Vice President of Product Strategy at Adventure to Fitness

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