The North Carolina Pre K Program Requirements

The article by Erika Christakis, informs future teachers and parents how preschool today may not be benefiting their children as much as they thought. She talks about how preschool has changed drastically over the years as well as kindergarten. She states that “kindergarten may be the new first grade”. Her statement shows how children today are expected more then they were years ago in all grades, especially preschool and at such a young age. Many think this is helping our children or will benefit them in the future if they know more as a child but this may not be the case. The article talks about multiple studies done throughout America to children are learning and how school curriculum changing affects children. A studied showed that children

Christina J. Groark, Stephanie K. McCarthy, Afton R. Kirk. (2014). Early Child Development: From Theory to Practice. Bridgepoint Education, Inc.

Healy, C. (2015). Who benefits most from head start programs? Chicago Policy Review (Online), Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.durhamtech.idm.oclc.org/

A “high-quality” preschool program is curriculum based with certified teachers and a low child to teacher ratio (Robin, Frede, & Barnett, 2006, p. 1)

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.

In order to respond this question, we must first review the history of Developmentally Appropriate Practice (DAP) and Early Childhood Education (ECE). Although ECE has been around since the creation of kindergarten in the 1800’s, the decade of the 1980’s was an important period for ECE. “By the 1980’s, meta-analysis of the well-designed US projects offered compelling evidence on the positive outcomes of [early childhood education and intervention]” (Woodhead, 2007). Therefore, there was much pressure to improve the state of education, including ECE. “The decade of the 1980’s saw numerous calls for widespread school reform, with changes recommended in teacher education, graduation requirements, school structure, and accountability measures” (S. Bredekamp, R.A. Knuth, L.G. Kunesh, and D.D. Shulman, 1992). At this time, there was an increasing concern about the quality of early childhood education for the influx number of families that needed it. This led the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) to “begin planning a national voluntary accreditation system for early childhood programs”(NAEYC, 2014). With this planning came a need for a more specific description with regards to accreditation guidelines. Therefore, NAEYC issued a formal statement defining DAP.

Throughout our career as childhood educators, we observe the significance of the National Association for Young Children or NAEYC. It is recognized as “the nation’s premier organization for early childhood professionals-setting research based standards and providing resources to improve early childhood program quality” (Copple & NAEYC, 2001) for teachers, students, and families. Despite exercising the knowledge of what NAEYC means for our classrooms and the students in them, some may not know who or how the organization was founded. Knowing the background of NAEYC is important because it has a reputable history of providing universities and educators with high quality, researched, information. In order to ascertain a further purpose to why these standards matter and the importance of NAEYC in education, we must learn its history and its founders.

In today's society, early childhood education programs have become an almost expected first step in every child's life. Studies have shown that when children attend they children who attend a preschool program are exposed to numbers, letter, and shapes on a daily basis. They also begin to learn many life skills, like how to socialize, share and separate from their parents. These first steps of learning are so important that now forty states in the U.S. now offer state funded pre-k programs (Kanter, 2016). With some many different preschools and early childhood programs, how do parents know if the programs are being held to a certain standard? The Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale (ECERS) is one comprehensive assessment tool available. Using this tool while quietly observing a preschool classroom, will help to define areas of strength as well as areas needing to be strengthened. The scale has thirty five different areas that are divided into six subscales, that will be observed. Each question is yes or no answer to a specific question and example.

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.

When schooling was first created in the US, there were not nearly as many rules. One-room schoolhouses where there were all different kinds of ages and education levels were the norm, and the type of education that was given to students was far different than what they receive today. As education developed and various needs came to light, larger schools were built and students were segregated based on criteria such as age. Separate schooling based on learning ability (special education) was something that came later, but it was eventually developed. The system that is available today is working well in many cases, but there are areas in which it is still failing the students - mainly because there are still too many countries getting ahead of the US in areas such as science and mathematics (Darling-Hammond, 2001; Figlio, 2002). Until the US takes back the number one spot, today's students will be at a disadvantage based on what they are learning and how they can put that education to use in the job market (Collins, 1999; Darling-Hammond, 2001).

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.

11. In the NAEYC’s position on kindergarten readiness, I agree with many of their ideas, but I do not think that it is fair for students to be tested one time to see if they are ready. I believe that students should be tested several times throughout the year so students have a better opportunity to show what they know. We don’t know how bad of a day a student is having what’s going on at home during that one testing period. 12. Students with special needs should be treated the same as every other student in the classroom. Inclusion is a huge deal to those students because they just want to be the same as everyone else.

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.

In early childhood education, school readiness has been becoming an issue of concern. Early childhood educators have the responsibility to prepare the child to demonstrate certain skills, behaviour and abilities that are essential for getting them ‘ready for school’ and their ‘school-success’. Children are prepared to excel in certain key areas of learning so that they can meet certain kindergarten standards and expectations of curriculum.