A Brief Note On Virginia Preschool Initiative Implications Essay

My philosophy of Early childhood education is based on research that indicates that a child’s growth is developmental. Every child is unique in terms of life experiences, developmental readiness, and cultural heritage. A high quality early childhood program that provides a safe and nurturing environment, which promotes physical, social, emotional, language and cognitive development will ensure a positive continuation of the child’s education process

Statement of Issue: Many minority children and children from low-income families enter kindergarten without the academic skills they need to succeed. Math and reading abilities at kindergarten entry are powerful predictors of later school success. Research shows kids who start school already behind are unlikely to ever get caught up to standards. Hispanic and African American children are anywhere from 7 to 12 months behind in reading and 9 to 10 months behind on math when they enter kindergarten. Access remains extremely low to high-quality early education do to a couple of problems. First, rates of access to early education vary widely as a function of children’s socioeconomic backgrounds. Secondly, the quality of most early education programs is not high enough to substantially improve academic readiness. Considering the tremendous potential for high-quality preschool to improve children’s outcomes, this policy brief will consider how a universal publicly funded pre-kindergarten program in the United States could decrease both disparities in access to early learning and achievement gaps at kindergarten entry.

As an educator in the early childhood education field, I have had the opportunity to become aware, experienced, and exposed to At-risk children in the NC Pre-Kindergarten classroom. My goal with this action research paper is to adhere to the benefits and everlasting impact on children whom attend and children who did not attend the NC Pre-Kindergarten program. How does NC Pre-K program ready children for Kindergarten? How does a child that did not attend an NC Pre-K classroom differ from those children that did? What are the goals and standards that are addressed in the NC Pre-K classroom? What, if any, curriculum is used in the classroom? Lastly, what assessments and screening tools are used to measure growth from the beginning of Pre-K to the end of the school year? These are the questions that will give my research guidance and direction to better educate the reader.

The answers to academic success for disadvantaged children may not be smaller class sizes, better-prepared teachers, tougher standards, more accountability, or greater choice as admirable as these goals may be. They may instead center on a single factor: preschool. Lyndon Johnson in 1965 wanted to “break the cycle of poverty” by raising poor children’s levels of competence with the Head Start program. Since it began, the Head Start program has been the most widely applied and most heavily researched prevention effort in the US.

In the best of cases, the returns on a preschool education compared to the cost of enrollment is nearly seventeen times, an enormous benefit for a relatively low cost. (Schweinhart) This number comes from the results of the High/Scope Perry Preschool Project, a 40 year long, completely comprehensive look into how the addition of a preschool education positively impacts students from low income, urban families. The findings included, among other things, a 14 percent employment rate increase and $5,000 average annual wage increase in children who were able to attend a preschool compared to their less educated peers. Other benefits included included an 11 percent increase in homeownership, 17 percent increase in the ability to own two or more automobiles, 26 percent higher likelihood to own a savings account, 35 percent decrease in violent crime, and a 27 percent increase in likelihood to have the custody of children. (Schweinhart) These numbers would seem to indicate that preschool enrollment is an incredible value for the health and stability of a community, however all of these benefits may take decades to fully

Despite the evidence advocating for the effectiveness of these programs, some people still have some misgivings of the benefits. In “Pre-K’s Promise vs. the Actual Evidence” by David J. Armor, it is said that early education is unimpactful

Bania, N., Kay, N. A., Aos, S., & Pennucci, A. (2014). Outcome evaluation of washington state’s early childhood education and assistance program. (Document No. 14-12-2201). Olympia: Washington State Institute for Public Policy.

The Abbott Preschool Program is administered through New Jersey’s Department of Education and the Department of Human Services. It was designed to provide all of New Jersey’s children an opportunity to succeed. The Abbott Preschool Program Longitudinal Effect Study (APPLES), published in 2013, investigated the impact of the Abbott program on children’s learning through the end of kindergarten. The findings of this study demonstrated that children who attend the Abbott Preschool Program, whether in public schools, private settings or Head Start, improve in language, literacy, and math at least through the end of their kindergarten year.

Several years ago Pennsylvania was only one of nice states that did not invest in a pre-kindergarten program however with the policies and programs for pre-kindergarten programs that are currently in place throughout the state educational communities are beginning to see differences in their students’ academic and reduction in at risk behaviors (Pre-K for PA, 2015). Pre-K Today states in their “Tools for the Campaign” article that due to increased funding by the state of Pennsylvania for pre-school programming and for policies such as the Pennsylvania Pre-K Counts there has been a reduction in grade retention and special education placement in elementary school, improvement in standardized test scores, reduction in juvenile crime, and higher

National Forum on Early Childhood Program Evaluation (2007). Early Childhood Program Evaluations: A Decision-Maker’s Guide. Retrieved on April 23, 2017, from http://www.developingchild.harvard.edu

The Heritage Foundation report noted that 45 early childhood education programs already existed, costing an estimated $45 million each year, and that many of the programs are “duplicative and ineffective, failing to serve the needs of children from low-income families” (Burke and Sheffield, 2013). In addition, the evidence showing that the public sector is a good provider of early childhood education is lacking. The 2001 Gilliam study reviewed state-run preschool programs and found that “less than half of the current state-funded preschool programs have, or are currently conducting, impact evaluations of the effectiveness of their programs” and that “of these

Early childhood education has many benefits and there is the potential for many significant outcomes if universal preschools were put into place. Some feel that children who start kindergarten without previously attended preschool sometimes lack certain skills such as social and communication skills and an inability to follow routines. There were also studies done that found attending preschool could help to close the achievement gap in the grade school years. A child’s first few years of life are most important, and they absorb the most during those years. By providing universal preschool, all children would be benefiting, especially those who are in at-risk families or part of the lower class. As a society, we have a responsibility to help the children in our communities and provide them with the education they need in order to help them succeed in life.

Time and time again, people agree upon the need for and the benefits of an early childhood education system, but very little change takes place. In Georgia, there is a prevalent need for effective programming for children of low socioeconomic status backgrounds. Research strongly claims that children from poor communities that enroll in center care demonstrate positive cognitive effects (Loeb et al, 2004). According to Zimmerman and Pepper Jr., two capitalists invested in prekindergarten programs, ―A child’s brain grows to roughly 85 percent of its full capacity in the first five years of life. These are also the years when a child’s sense of what is

The Early Childhood Education program at Carlow University focuses on educating children from birth to grade four in any context—school, family, or community. As a signature mark of the program, students learn how to honor diversity and form strong inclusive relationships between child and caregiver/teacher. They learn that a child’s environment needs to be rooted in trust; physically and psychologically safe. They learn that the caregiver/teacher relationship needs

Early childhood education is one of the most important policy topics out there. Research has proven that the early years in childhood is a critical period for opportunity to develop a child’s full potential; as well as form academic, social, and cognitive skills that determine not only success in school but also their entire life (The White House). The right to a free, public education is guaranteed to all children in the United States. Early education is voluntary, and therefore some children are not given the opportunity to reach their full potential.