Maintaining developmentally appropriate literacy practices in standardized classrooms: a Freirean framed review of the literature

Abstract

Scholars [e.g., Carlsson-Paige, N., McLaughlin, G., & Almon, J. (2015). Reading instruction in kindergarten: Little to gain and much to lose. Retrieved December 11, 2015, from https://www.sarahlawrence.edu/cdi/media/pdf/ReadinginKindergartenreport.pdf] warn that outcome-oriented, kindergarten, literacy standards may encourage an overreliance on didactic methods at the expense of child-centered practices. Such an overreliance can limit curiosity and decrease feelings of competence [Haberman, M. (2010). 11 consequences of failing to address the ‘Pedagogy of Poverty’. Phi Delta Kappan, 92(2), 45–46]. This review investigates the intersection of DAP [Copple, C., & Bredekamp, S. (Eds.). (2009). Developmentally appropriate practice in early childhood programs serving children from birth through age 8 (3rd ed.). Washington, DC: National Association for the Education of Young Children.] and literacy standards in an effort to better support educators striving to address both. Additionally, the theoretical lens of Paulo Freire is invoked to buttress the notion of DAP as fundamental to kindergarten literacy instruction.