Study Finds Little Actual Teaching in the First Grade

First-grade teachers across the country spend very little time actually teaching academic skills, instead focusing on classroom management, according to a national study to be released today.

The study, based on observation of 827 first-grade classrooms in 26 states, also found that there seems to be no uniform standard for what a proper first-grade instructional program should be.

In addition, researchers from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development said there was no correlation between the number of children in a class or a teacher’s level of education or experience and the amount of time devoted to teaching as opposed to filling out work sheets or playing.

Researchers did not look at whether there was a link between what went on in the classroom and how children performed academically.

The findings, which will be formally presented today at the meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development in Minneapolis, should be food for thought for policymakers and prompt further studies, said Robert C. Pianta, a professor of education at the University of Virginia and one of the lead researchers.

The results elicited outrage and puzzlement from many first-grade teachers, who said there is plenty of teaching going on in their classrooms.

“I don’t agree at all,” said Donna Church, who teaches first grade at Hermosa Drive Elementary School in Fullerton. “Not here. Not at all.” California’s standards for first-graders mean that Church spends all day teaching reading and math, she said.

Sharon Erbst, who teaches first grade at James M. Guinn Elementary School in Anaheim, said she does not stand in front of her class lecturing because the children would become bored and distracted. But she said that almost every minute of her day is devoted to math, reading, spelling and phonics. Classroom management, she said, takes up very little of her time.

“I don’t know what they think they saw,” Erbst said of the researchers. “We spend an awful lot of time on instruction.”

“I wish we had more time to color and do [physical education],” she added. “Sometimes I feel we are so structured with time limits for academic subjects that they don’t even have time to breathe.”

Pianta said the study should not be interpreted as an indictment of teachers. Rather, it shows that policymakers need to decide what they want instructors to accomplish in first grade and find ways to enable them. “This is not about blaming teachers,” Pianta said. “What they’re doing in those classrooms is what they’re being trained or told to do.”

But no one agrees on what that should be, he noted. Why is that acceptable for first-grade teachers, Pianta asked, when most people would shudder if told that emergency rooms across the country all had a different approach to treating a gunshot wound?

“We need to have a better understanding about how we make decisions about what children ought to be taught,” he said. “This is one of the largest observational studies of classrooms to ever be conducted, but it’s kind of a snapshot.”

The observation of first-grade classrooms was part of the same study that concluded earlier this week that the more time children spend in day care, the more likely they are to display behavior problems in kindergarten.

In the government-funded study, researchers in 10 cities across the country--including Irvine--followed 1,300 children since birth. Most of the children are now in fourth grade, but it took years to analyze the data.

Researchers observed 687 public school classrooms and 140 private school classrooms. Though teaching styles and activities varied dramatically, many teachers devoted significant amounts of time to leading large groups in reading, with scant attention to science, math or social studies, the study found.

Researchers rated more than 15% of the classrooms as lacking both effective literacy instruction and positive emotional support for children, such as responding to students’ bids for attention and help. More than 35% of classrooms were rated as low on providing instructional feedback to children during lessons.

“I’m not sure we know yet what the implications are,” said Alison Clarke-Stewart, a professor of psychology at UC Irvine and one of the lead academics on the study. She said it’s unclear how academically rigorous first grade should be. “The question will be: Are the kids better off if they’re getting more instruction or less instruction?”