Reaching Higher NH, an organization set up by New Hampshire Board of Education members, Tom Raffio and Bill Duncan, continue to push harmful education policies.

The Feds are actively pushing universal pre-school and full day kindergarten. Organizations like Reaching Higher NH are there to facilitate those efforts.  But is this good for five year old children?

The answer is NO.

Reaching Higher NH posted an article from the Concord Monitor in support of full day kindergarten.  Some of the comments from NH residents said they didn’t want to pay for someone’s child care expenses.  In other words, “tax-payer funded” full day kindergarten would help the financial burden for families that have to pay child care expenses.

Some comments were by former kindergarten teachers who said they didn’t like young children being pushed and that a full day schedule was not “appropriate” for all five-year olds.

There were some comments in support of full day kindergarten but no one provided any proof/data that this would help students (long term) academically or that it was good for young children.
In fact, I asked Reaching Higher NH for proof.

I then went on and presented expert advice that we are actually doing harm to children in k-3.

Dr. Gary Thompson, a licensed Child Psychologist and founder at Early Life Child Psychological & Educational Services, Inc. has stated publicly that in his professional opinion, the Common Core k-3 standards are extremely “developmentally inappropriate.”  He also says there is NO empirical independent research ever done on any aspect of Common Core that shows that it works.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OKeskP8iiL8  (2:30)

Stanford researchers have also provided proof that we are sending our kids to school too early.
“……..Danish kids who postponed kindergarten for up to one year showed dramatically higher levels of self-control.
“We found that delaying kindergarten for one year reduced inattention and hyperactivity by 73% for an average child at age 11,” Thomas Dee, one of the co-authors and a Stanford Graduate School of Education professor, said in a release.”

Premature Kindergarten can harm children’s brains. “We need to be aware of the less obvious consequences of premature education, including its harmful effect on brains that are unready to learn comfortably.” (Martha Bridge Denckla–pediatric neurologist)

What is the purpose for extending the day?  Is it to improve the academics for children?  If so, shouldn’t they provide long term/independent studies that show it works?

The Head Start studies showed that investing in young children did not provide any evidence it helped students academically and that it was a “tragic waste of money.”

Is it to provide taxpayer funded daycare?  Then let’s be honest about that and let the taxpayers in each district decide if they want to cover those expenses for working parents.

There is no evidence having children attend a full day program versus a half day program improves the academic outcomes.  We have an expert opinion that the early academic standards are developmentally inappropriate for kindergarten children.  We can see statistical evidence that “delaying kindergarten for one year reduced inattention and hyperactivity by 73% for an average child at age 11.”  So why continue to push for full day kindergarten or universal pre-school?

It appears again that Reaching Higher NH ignores evidence that these federal education agendas are harmful to children.  Governor Hassan and candidate for Governor, Colin VanOstern also push these harmful education agendas on New Hampshire children.  Voters now have to consider this in the upcoming elections and make sure their district administrators are giving residents all of the information and data when considering this expansion at the local level.

Parents know their children better than government bureaucrats.  Parents should make this important decision for their children.   Stop the government bureaucrats from forcing any federal education agenda in New Hampshire that can potentially harm young children.

Ann Marie Banfield currently volunteers as the Education Liaison for Cornerstone Action in New Hampshire. She has been researching education reform for over a decade and actively supports parental rights, literacy and academic excellence in k-12 schools. You can contact her at: abanfield@nhcornerstone.org