Preparing Preservice Teachers for Success in NCLB's Kindergartens: Learning from Experienced Teachers' Strategies for Managing Professional Relationships with Colleagues and Parents

Source: Journal of Early Childhood Teacher Education, Volume 29, Issue 3 July 2008 , pages 222 - 236

Kindergarten has undergone dramatic changes since the implementation of No Child Left Behind (NCLB) in 2002. The literature on the challenges facing kindergarten teachers as a result of NCLB focuses primarily on curricular and instructional issues; little attention has been paid to NCLB's impact on the relational aspects of kindergarten teaching, such as partnership with parents and collaboration with colleagues.

To address this gap, this article presents findings from a recent qualitative study of two veteran kindergarten teachers' challenges managing their relationships with the first-grade teachers at their school and with their students' parents. Participants demonstrated a range of successful strategies for responding to these difficult relational situations. Because many preschool and primary grade teachers are presently facing similar challenges, this study can contribute to teacher educators' ongoing efforts to ensure our programs prepare students to be effective in today's NCLB-influenced classrooms.