Kindergarten Teachers: Affecting Students Lives for the Long Haul

I have been hesitant about student teaching kindergarten in the fall. I have been having so much fun in the upper grades, that I didn't think kindergarten would be as rewarding. An article that I found in the News & Observer yesterday opened by eyes to the importance of kindergarten teachers and the lasting effects they have on children. It has provided me a spark of motivation and has lit a fire of excitement for my experience in the fall!

The article was titled, "Study lauds early school: In kindergarten, teachers matter." The article analyzes an experiment called Project Star, which examined the life paths of 12,000 children from kindergarten until about age 30. The children came from socio-economically diverse backgrounds in the Tennessee area. Test scores from their kindergarten years were recorded and compared to their life paths years later. Some results are:

• A student who went from average to the 60th percentile - a typical jump for a 5 year old with a good teacher - could expect to make about $1,000 more a year at the age of 27 than a student who remained average
• Students who scored higher were more likely to go to college
• Students who scored higher were less likely to become single parents
• Students who scored higher were more likely to be saving for retirement

Class size and socio-economic status of peers do play a factor in explaining test scores. But neither of these factors explain the variation of scores between classes. The conclusion to explain the class performance variation was this:

Teachers: some are highly effective. Some are not. And the differences can affect students for the years to come.

Now that is pretty motivating!