YARDSTICKS: Introduction, Developmental Considerations, and Broad Guidelines for the book

By Rebecca Ashby, Tiffany Coffee, Christina Dressler, and Mystie Keller

INTRODUCTION

Today, due to politics, education is primarily concerned with:

1) uniformity of curriculum 2) assessments 3) subjects/content mastered at

earlier ages.  This is not necessarily good for children

because it does not make a well-rounded individual, does not inspire interest in learning, and it adds stress to ALL!

LOSS OF CHILDHOOD? Today’s education may mean exclusion of

social, cultural, and civic learning.   We may ALSO be leaving behind

imagination, play, creativity, curiosity, pleasure reading, recess, art/music, and computer literacy!

  There have been several attempts have

children fit in a curriculum - but they have IGNORED developmental appropriate variances.

AUTHOR’S ANSWER We need teacher discretion based on child

development. There is a choice of developmental needs VS.

time and reaching state standards. Classroom diversity SHOULD equal Cultural

Richness. * This is crucial in order to diversify teaching! 

Examples of theorists who agree: Gesell Piaget Erikson Montessori 

THE RIGHT TO PLAY!UN Convention on the Rights of the Child• International treaty that delineates universally accepted

rights for children (1989) • Supersedes Declaration of the Rights of the Child adopted

in 1959.Article 31 of the UN Convention:• Every child has the right to rest and leisure, to engage in

play and recreational activities appropriate to the age of the child and to participate freely in cultural life and the arts.

• Member governments shall respect and promote this right.  

Note: The United States is the only country that has not ratified the 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child!

EDUCATING THE WHOLE CHILD Concentration on Intellectual as well

as: social, emotional, physical, and language strengths.

  Author’s additional book: Time to

Teach and Time to Learn has “practical strategies that create time in the school day for reflection, deeper dialogue, more rigorous academics, and more meaningful social interactions as opposed to being “fact factories.”

DEVELOPMENTAL CONSIDERATIONS All children share common growth

patterns. Four key principles of child development:

1. Children’s physical maturation, language acquisition, social and emotional behavior, cognition, and ways of approaching the world follow reasonably predicable patterns.

2. Children generally go through predictable stages in the same order, but not at the same rate.

3. The various aspects of development do not proceed at the same rate.

4. Growth is uneven.

DEVELOPMENTAL NEEDS IN AMERICAN CLASSROOMS

The Four key principles discussed should guide decisions made about American schooling.

Schools need to address all of a child’s needs in order to provide balance in a child’s life.

Examples:- Physical activity- Food policies- Development of social and emotional skills

Not Just:- Curriculum choices- Test results

CHILDREN’S PHYSICAL NEEDS Food - Children need more food than 3 meals a

day. “Making sure that children have enough good

water when they need it contributes to healthy physical growth and effective learning”- author Chip Wood.

* These ideas are acknowledged in younger grades, but ignored as children get older.

Suggestions: Children can bring a healthy snack from home Teachers can set up a snack table and allow

students to regulate their own eating

The Importance of Water Children need water more than they need

food. Water allows the body and brain to

function well. A child who’s not drinking enough water

may get a headache, become dizzy, or feel very tired.

Suggestion:- Schedule more water breaks into the day.

- Allow student to bring water bottles from home.

CHILDREN’S PHYSICAL NEEDS Exercise - All children need frequent exercise. “An estimated 40% of all elementary schools have either

eliminated or are in the process of eliminating recess.” (American Association for the Child’s Right to Play)

Formal physical education classes have been reduced to as little as a half hour a week.

Suggestions: - Make sure students spend time outside at least twice a day.- 5 to 10 minute break to run around the school building or

jump rope.

Examples:- Aerobics to music “Head and Shoulder, Knees and Toes”.- 5 minutes of “The Latest Dance Craze”.

ORGANIZING THE SCHOOL DAY Order of the school day should follow the flow a

children’s developmental needs Recess and lunchtime Midday break Pacing Time allowed for each activity The pace at which children are moved from one

task to the next

“Children have almost no time to reflect on their learning, to make calm, organized transitions between class, or to delve deeply into learning that they love.”- Chip Wood

SLEEP 

Children aged five to 12 need 10-11 hours of sleep.

There is an increased demand on their time from school (e.g., homework), sports and other extracurricular and social activities.

School-aged children become more interested in TV, computers, the media and Internet as well as caffeine products

Adolescents are showing increased signs of sleep deprivation and reliance on stimulants to make their way through the demanding school days. (National Sleep Foundation)

SCHOOL CALENDAR Agrarian calendar vs. Extended

calendars- Curriculum is overloaded- Most families do not farm

Focus does not need to be on just adding time, but we need to add time and adjust the way that time is used

Pace of daily learning adapted to match the developmental tempo of the children

QUIZ TIME! TRUE OR FALSE?1. Some elementary schools today use single grade,

separate classrooms. 2. Students who are retained purely for academic

failure do not benefit and are actually harmed by the retention.

3. Connecting with parents is the key to helping students’ families learn about American schools.

4. European Americans and Asian Americans are the two largest minority groups in American schools.

5. Bilingualism is harmful to children since they cannot learn either language well.

6. African American children typically have to learn how to travel between two cultures – home and school - that often have different values and accepted patterns of behaviors.

GROUPING STUDENTS Most American schools today use the single

grade, separate-classroom structure. With this classroom structure, all the children with birthdays between certain cut-off dates are assigned to a grade level. This is not the only way of grouping students!

-Mixed age groupings is another option.

LOOPING What is looping?

Definition: Looping is when the teacher stays with a group of children as they progress to the next grade and then loops back to begin teaching a new group of students at the younger grade.

Advantages of Looping

RETENTION What is retention?

This is the practice of holding a student in the same grade for a year or longer.

-Does retention hurt or help a child? Research has found that retaining a student for academic

failure tends to be harmful to the child and that children who are retained are more likely to drop out of school.

* Children that are developmentally younger overall may need to be retained for an extra year of help and this may ensure future success; so, retention is not bad in all ways.

WHAT CHANGES DO WE NEED?American schools should become more

diversified!

Because of the change in the population needs to be matched by changes in school; this means diversifying the profession as a whole, embracing bilingual and multi lingual education, and learning about the children’s home cultures.

According to the US Dept of Education, in 2000-2001 school year, 91% of elementary teachers were females. 82.9% was European American, 9.6% was African American and 5.5% was Latino/Hispanic.

LEARNING ABOUT STUDENTS’ CULTURES

Teachers should deepen their understanding of what each child’s home culture is like AND how the interaction of their home culture and their school life affects the child’s learning.

Connecting with the parents is the KEY to helping families learn about American schools.

AFRICAN AMERICAN CHILDREN This is one of the largest minority groups in

American schools. However, African American children are usually devalued.

African American children tend to have more flexibility and agility in social interactions with teachers and peers.

According to Janice Hale-Benson, author of the book Black Children: Their Roots, Culture and Learning Styles emphasizes that lower achievement among African American children is often a function of the way they are perceived and treated by their teachers, rather than a function of home and community.

LATINO/HISPANIC CHILDREN This group of students is also one of the

largest minority groups in American schools. This group of children is often misunderstood

because of their language and their literacy development.

As educators, we must embrace the bilingualism in these students.

According to Reyes and Moll, The Latino children, in their first years of learning English will do poorly in English speaking classes and on tests written in English.

Broad Guidelines for Using Yardsticks

Developmental information is sorted into three categories: Growth Patterns

- Developmental milestones and common developmental patterns.

In the Classroom- How children’s typical abilities shape how they

work and play in school. Curriculum

- How the curriculum should take developmental stages into account.

Curriculum Charts in Yardsticks

Based on developmental needs - not standardsEx: Children only asked to memorize at age 10,

when they are able. Depth over breadth Foster love for learning

Homework choices

Note: chronological age and developmental stage are not necessarily the same

Using the Yardsticks charts Teachers may use these for grouping

students or choosing developmentally appropriate material.

Parents can use these guidelines for both evaluating the curriculum and comparing their child to the norm.

Notes: Guidelines are based on research with European-

American students. “Personality” and gender may also play a role in

development .

References: Wood, C. (1994). Yardsticks: Children in

the Classroom Ages 4-14. Greenfield, Maine: Northeast Foundation for Children.