The Importance Of Pre Kindergarten Education Within Students Suffering From Poverty

The research finds that participants with the lowest initial skills are the most beneficial from public Head Start programs. But this study also states that Head Start program has lots of limitation. At the beginning of this research paper, the author introduces the history and definition of Head Start program and its main purpose. He states, “The federal Head Start program is the largest early childhood education initiative in the United States, giving matching grants to preschool centers that provide parent training, early education, and health services to poor children and their families” (Healy, 2015, para. 1). As the author emphasis, the Head Start program is not suitable for all children but only offers to children from the low-income families. There are still many families left who need the public

Early childhood education is crucial for success in the formalized education system. Many children born into lower income communities do not obtain this advantage. According to Kozol, simply based off accident of birth a child will lead completely different educational lives (2005). For example, a white toddler in an upper middle class neighborhood might attend a prestigious educational preliminary kindergarten. These respected early education schools are often referred to as “baby ivies” (Kozol, 2005). The child participates in pre-numeracy skills along with pre-writing skills. Conversely, a child of minority descent living in an underprivileged neighborhood may not initiate school until they are five years old. In the three previous years a

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.

Perhaps pre-K programs serving poor and minority children have trouble attracting good teachers. Perhaps classrooms with more disadvantaged children are more difficult to manage. Perhaps teachers offer more basic instruction because disadvantaged children need to catch up. In any event, Ms. Valentino told me, “the gaps are huge.”

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.

Recent studies on early childhood education have shown that children who have access to quality pre-kindergarten education tend to have higher educational attainment than those who do not have the opportunity. While the literature is by no means uniform on this, the bulk of current evidence suggests that such policies will likely be helpful, especially for students in low - income and minority school districts. Only time will tell, of course, if such programs can help to make inroads into the seemly intractable achievement gaps, but based on current evidence, it is a policy worth

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.

Children living in poverty or low-income neighborhoods are known to have lifelong struggles because of their education. The link between poverty and poor education is a known fact because children living in poverty will rather provide for their families than their own education. As a community, we need to come together to help low-income families and their children obtain a better future in their education. The effects of children living in poverty or low-income neighborhoods is a known issue worldwide and is only affecting our children’s future and ours.

The differences in academic gaps between children and teenagers from low-income neighborhoods and affluent neighborhoods present themselves in the schools the students attend. A study by the Department of Education showed that students in low-income areas did not have access to the same rigorous courses, and when they did, the resources available to the low-income students was lacking compared to the resources the students in high income neighborhoods had access to. In the low-income areas black and Hispanic students were twice as likely to have teachers with less experience, with one or two years in the profession, compared to schools in affluent neighborhoods with well-to-do white students. Another thing increasing the academic gap is that only 22 percent of local districts reported offering pre-kindergarten or other early learning programs for low-income children.

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.

The purpose of this project is to introduce a possible approach and solution to address inequality in the United States public education system. As such, it presents evidence to support the claim that academic outcomes improve when children participate in school-readiness programs prior to entering primary education. Moreover, the emphasis of this project is to present the process for an exploratory analysis using the constructionist approach and basic framework of the social problem process by Joel Best (2008, pp. 33-40). First, it introduces the claim that educational outcomes are dependent on socioeconomic status, advocates for compulsory early childhood education, and proposes the Initiatory Public Education Policy. This includes

Poverty experienced during the early childhood years can take a toll on cognitive development that can later affect children as they mature. Even if experienced as an infant, a child can suffer severe consequences cognitively that will affect their brain development during childhood. In a study focusing on infants and children between the ages of 5 months and 4 years old, subjects underwent between 1 and 7 MRI scans longitudinally to monitor their brain development. Children of both high SES (socioeconomic status) and low SES families were subjects. It was found that children from low SES families had lower volumes of gray matter in both the frontal and parietal lobes as well as reduced total gray matter growth trajectories when compared to

The information I collected from this project holds a strong grip for availability to the whole nation towards obtaining Pre-k for every state. I was surprised on the amount of states that don’t obtain Pre-k programs nor have it in an affordable price range. States like South and North Dakota don't obtain programs for Pre-k. I have realized that many people that want better educational opportunities don’t normally live because of the lack of primary education in that certain state. The population also shows that certain disadvantages in certain states; educational programs or opportunity. A call to action would be to discuss with school board members from every state to consider the statistics shown for later education accomplishments due

President Lyndon B. Johnson, in his first State of the Union Address, declared war on poverty (Johnson, 1964). The government desired to eradicate the causes of poverty by providing job opportunities, thus creating the Job Corps. However, President Johnson strongly believed early childhood education was the answer to breaking the poverty cycle and assembled a panel of child development experts to design an educational program to meet the needs of disadvantaged preschool children (Hustedt & Barnett, 2011). Dr. Robert Cooke of John –Hopkins University and other panel members declared, “The need for an urgency of these programs is such that they should be initiated immediately” to improve the opportunities and achievement of the children of the poor (1965, p. 2). Their recommendations for a head-start program are discussed in the Cooke Report,

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.