What Happened to Play in Kindergarten?

I read the following passage a few days ago.

"What kind of professional wants to spend every working hour doing what research says is best for children and best practices only to be second guessed and overridden, asked to do things that aren't developmentally appropriate? (Can anyone say play in Kindergarten anymore?)" -- Natalie Holland

We (the American public) are going to get what we pay for. When teaching becomes (continues to become) simply reading the script and instruction on how to fill in bubbles, then we're going to get teachers who are adept at reading scripts and showing kids how to fill in bubbles.

Right now, in Florida, the attack on Public Education has reached a new level. Teachers will be judged by their students' scores on a test - experience doesn't count for anything. The politicians are pushing it through...and when it fails to close the achievement gap between rich and poor, as it surely will, teachers will, again, be the ones to blame.

It doesn't seem to matter what research into best practices says...