作为一名幼儿园业主/教育工作者，我清楚地记得有一天，我决定离开在俄亥俄州最富裕的学区之一担任公立学校教师长达13年的职业生涯，去拥有和经营自己的幼儿园。这不是一个容易的决定，因为我热爱教学;离开教室是我做过的最艰难的职业决定之一。然而，指导我们课程实践的标准和标准化考试与我的信念完全相悖。幸运的是，我有了选择，决定继续接受教育，搬到更年轻的年龄，在当时，这似乎免除了标准化考试的明显压力。我设想了一种将玩耍作为主要学习理念的设施——一种重视儿童兴趣和焦点小组，一种融合多元文化的设施。我决定放弃令人惊叹的退休生活，放弃体面的薪水，放弃带着自己的孩子过暑假，把我的理想奉献给其他年轻的学习者。我几乎没有意识到，以前困扰我的噩梦，现在还会在我的学前班继续困扰我。虽然关于游戏和认知发展的研究为我们的幼儿基于游戏的课程提供了许多支持，但是最近国家和国家对能力测试成绩的强调强化了最小游戏时间的概念，即使是在小学阶段。许多幼儿园和小学已经减少甚至取消了游戏从他们的时间表。游戏，即使是很小的部分，也正在被学术准备实践所取代，特别是读写能力和阅读能力，以匹配标准化考试的内容。
英国曼彻斯特代写作业:教育工作者
As a preschool owner/educator, I remember so vividly the day I decided to leave an incredible 13-year career as a public school teacher in one of Ohio’s wealthiest school districts to own and run my own preschool. This was not an easy decision, because I love teaching; leaving the classroom was one of the hardest professional decisions I have ever made. However, the standards and standardized testing that were dictating our curriculum practices were in complete conflict with my beliefs. Fortunately, I had options and decided to stay in education by moving to younger ages, which at the time, seemed exempt from the overt pressure of standardized testing. I envisioned a facility that embraced play as the primary learning philosophy – one that valued child interests and focus groups, one that integrated multicultural facets. I could not be more pleased with my decision to walk away from an amazing retirement, decent salary, and summers off with my own children to offer my ideals to other young learners. Little did I realize that the same nightmares that plagued me previously would continue to haunt me at my preschool. Although research on play and cognitive development provide a lot of support for the play-based curriculum for our young children, the recent state and national emphasis on proficiency test performance has reinforced the concept of minimal play time, even in the primary setting. Many preschools and elementary schools have reduced or even eliminated play from their schedules. Play, even the small segments, are being replaced with academic readiness practices, particularly literacy and reading to match the content of standardized testing。
