NEW YORK, NY August 28, 2008 —Mayor Bloomberg is defending the Department of Education's voluntary pilot program to begin standardized testing as early as kindergarten.

But Tovah Klein, head of the Barnard Center for Toddler Development, says standardized testing isn't appropriate for the youngest students.

KLEIN: Young children make discoveries when they're actually working with materials. So to take something out of context and ask a single question doesn't tell you what they know and don't know.

REPORTER: Critics have accused the Bloomberg Administration of focusing too much on standardized testing in its education reforms.