First Draft Standards Review Donita Brown, M.Ed.

The Pre-K Learner Outcomes were written "Students will demonstrate, apply knowledge" or "Students will
begin to demonstrate, apply knowledge".... then the skill. If it is the law and an absolute must to have
standards for Pre-K then I would rather them state something like, " The student will have exposure to.......then
skill" or The student will experience a variety of genres of literature during daily storytime.
Pre-K Learner Outcomes that are not Developmentally Appropriate (DAP):
Phonological Awareness:
a. Students will begin to hear and identify syllables in spoken words.
Not only is this not age appropriate but according to Reading Research the alphabetic principle, consonant
sounds, vowel sounds, beginning, medial and final sounds, rhyme, segmentation and onset & rime are all
taught before word syllables.
c. onsets and rimes in one syllable words. This is not DAP according to Piaget and National Association of
Early Childhood Educators. This might be appropriate for some Kindergartners, but is actually a First Grade
skill.
d. Students will begin to segment and blend sounds in words with 2 or 3 sounds. First of all segmentation
and blending sounds are two totally different skills. Segmentation of sounds is always taught first.
This is a second semester of Kindergarten and First Grade skill.
Blending sounds can't be taught until letter recognition and letter sounds are mastered. This is a First Grade
skill.
e. Students will begin to segment sounds in words with 2 or 3 sounds.
d. & e. are not only not DAP, but this doesn't make any sense to me at all. I don't understand why --e.-- is listed
after what --d.--stated.??
*THROUGHOUT THE LEARNER OUTCOMES (in pre-k, k, 1st, etc.) segmentation and blending are combined
in the stated outcome.
K:
a. Students will hear, identify and count syllables in spoken words.
( once again hearing, identifying, counting syllables is not taught until after alphabetic principle, consonant &
vowel sounds, beginning, medial & final sounds, rhyming, segmentation and onset & rime.
Print Concepts:
Pre-K:
c, With adult guidance and support the students will describe the role of an author and illustrator, telling how
they contribute to a story.
This is not DAP. I found in the Learner Outcomes that when an outcome started with "With adult guidance and
support the student will" that the outcome was not age appropriate.
d. With adult guidance the student will begin to understand that print carries a message by recognizing labels,
signs and other print in the environment. I do like that this states that the student will begin to, with begin
being the key word. I question is it necessary to start this outcome statement with , "With adult guidance"??
K:
c. With adult guidance and support, students will identify the author and illustrator and explain the roles of
each. This is a First grade skill.
Can't Pre-K and K students just enjoy adults reading stories to them. Can't they just develop a desire to want
to learn to read and enjoy looking at books?

d. With adult guidance, the student will begin to determine the purpose of a text--to provide information, telling
a story, provide language play as in nursery rhymes, riddles, etc. Not DAP. This is a First Grade, Second
Grade, Third Grade skill.
In the Pre-K and K Standards there was one outcome that stated that the student would ask appropriate
questions of the speaker. This age student doesn't know what a question is ! They are ego-centered and just
want to tell about themselves or about something they did. This is a skill that students and teachers can
seriously begin to work on in First Grade.
It appears that the K Standards were just pushed down or started in Pre-K. Not all but many of the Pre-K
standards are not DAP, or not written in a manner that they could be interpreted and taught in an age
appropriate manner.
I was glad to see that handwriting was included in the Learner Outcomes, because there is current and old
research that shows that when students learn handwriting it helps to structure the neurological pathways that
are also used for reading.
I was relieved to see that Kindergartners were not going to write informational, opinion, etc. texts, which were
part of the Common Core Standards.
Actually, with a little more work and adjustments these standards could be excellent.
The Math standards had an introduction to each grade level's learner outcomes that was very beneficial to the
teacher, parent, principal, etc. It would be nice to have the same for the ELA learner outcomes.
The Math standards were sequential and built on previously taught concepts.
This is my brief summary. I truly appreciate the OSDE allowing me the opportunity to examine the new
standards. I also appreciate the time and effort the people on the standards committees have put forth in
attempting this major feat.
Donita Brown, M.Ed.
donitabk@gmail.com