Stockard, Jean2023-04-122023-04-122015-06-15https://hdl.handle.net/1794/281868 pagesTwo on-line publications released in May, 2015 warned of the dangers of early childhood education programs that promote academic skills. A group called “Defending the Early Years” released a short document by Nancy Carlsson-Paige and associates titled Reading Instruction in Kindergarten: Little to Gain and Much to Lose (Carlsson-Paige, McLaughlin, & Almon, 2015). Shortly thereafter Peter Gray used this information for a blog post on the Psychology Today website titled Early Academic Training Produces Long-Term Harm: Research Reveals Negative Effects of Academic Preschools and Kindergartens (Gray, 2015). Both postings contend that academic preschools and kindergartens have no lasting effect on students’ later academic success and can even promote long-term harm to children’s social and psychological development. Given the provocative nature of these conclusions, the NIFDI Office of Research and Evaluation was asked to examine their basis. The first section below summarizes misrepresentations in the publications, and the second section briefly examines theoretical assumptions embodied in the discussions and their implications.enCreative Commons BY-NC-ND 4.0-USTechnical ReportReading Instruction in Kindergarten: Little to Gain and Much to LoseNancy Carlsson-PaigeMisrepresentationTechnical Report