A Comparison of Two Private School Kindergarten Literacy Programs

This is a descriptive study comparing the kindergarten literacy curricula of two private school classrooms through classroom observations teacher self-reported data on philosophies and activities related to literacy instruction and parent self-reported data on perception of student growth. Differences in teacher characteristics time spent on literacy activities phonics instruction and classroom environment are discussed and compared to best practice for teaching kindergarten literacy as outlined by many researchers. Results showed that while both classrooms’ curricula aligned in many ways with best practice neither aligned perfectly with the guidelines. This leads to the conclusion that curriculum is not the driving force behind whether or not kindergarteners are getting good literacy instruction. Instead what kindergarten teachers do specifically in their classrooms makes the difference in the lives of those kindergarten children and is one of the building blocks contributing to a greater society for everyone.