Accountability is wonderful. While a test may appeal to some teachers, do we really want to force our children to conform to some test? Let's let children demonstrate their skills and document that through observation. We need to work with the children on their level, not expect them to come to our level.

AND WE WONDER WHY TEEN SUICIDE IS UP IN THE UNITED STATES. Please stop the practice of testing young children, they have to face the stresses of the big world soon enough, allow our children to PLAY without fear of being tested on if they play correctly. Also what message is this giving to the parents whom then also pressure the children to "work" at home and not play. Parents will feel the need to practice with thier young children at home to prepare them for the upcoming tests in Preschool robbing them of the little time they have with their children due to their already busy lifes. We should be encouraging our Early Childhood teachers to set up areas of interest to enhance play which will help our children learn the necessary skills to be successful, not support testing.

I presently have my own day care. i have 2yr olds who are very receptive and rather intelligent. i think it is fair to test young children. Why? because as a teacher i see how easy it is for some children to grasp early childhood education. many of the children i work with are able to identify their letters , numbers as well as reconizing their own names printed on the board.

I have mixed feelings on this subject. I strongly agree with other comments that have been made, especially Linda from Kansas. There has been so much solid research that informs us about how young children learn best through play, and I feel that we have an ethical responsibility to advocate for developmentally appropriate practices. Having said that, I also believe that we could be doing a much better job preparing our young children for the transition into the public school sysytem. Regardless of whether we approve of the way that public schools are run, the reality is that most young children will be part of that system. While there certainly could be better ways to go about it then bubble forms and spelling tests, idealistically ignoring the fact that the children will need certain skills to be successful in school is equally inappropriate. While we are standing up for what we know is best practice, We also need to be open to sensitive collaboration and compromise to best serve our young children.

Children are being robbed of the most important part of their early learning; learning how to play, getting along with others,recognizing and regulating their emotions, and feeling safe in their world. Testing their academic readiness is no predictor for school success if the social/emotional skills are lacking. We have got to stop this trend in testing our very young!! Parents and early childhood professionals need to stand together and call for a stop to this insanity.