Universal Preschool: Targeting Sensitive Periods

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

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

Provide a definition of what a “high quality” preschool program consists of and why that is important.

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.

On February 12th, 2012, in his State of the Union address, President Obama discussed the long-term benefits a universal preschool would have on today’s society. “In states that make it a priority to educate our youngest children…studies show students grow up more likely to read and do math at grade level, graduate high school, hold a job, form more stable families of their own. We know this works. So let’s do what works and make sure none of our children start the race of life already behind.” (Obama) Unfortunately, an overwhelming number of children, from low-poverty areas, are unable to access high-quality early childhood programs for their preschool aged children. Consequently,

Just think about this one tiny effect. Imagine that you are about to start school at the age of five, and once you arrive you see that kids around you are more prepared, confident, and eager to learn. These young smiley five year old faces don’t make you happy. In fact, this makes you depressed, and saddened. Early education, also known as preschool is of vital importance. Preschool or an early educational establishment is a group of people offering early childhood education, before the age five. They offer enriching courses for children, and help prepare them for the transition into elementary school. Children who use the opportunity of an early education have a huge advantage. On the other hand, children who don’t enter preschools seem to lack in certain areas, and lag behind. Many children in our country do not attend preschool at the age of three or four, and directly enter kindergarten without the early learning opportunity. This issue of a less advantage situation could eventually lead to a bigger disadvantage when it comes to learning. Many parents aren’t willing to send their children to preschool in their early years as it is over expensive and unnecessary for a three year old to enter school. I, on the other hand, disagree with these people. If children learn from early on, there won’t be any need to worry about others who have advantages. I believe that early education should be mandatory, and since many people can’t afford preschools, public school districts should have their own preschool grade for all younger students.

Early childhood. During the 1990s, the nation was inundated with reports on the importance of the early years on children's brain development and later cognitive achievement. While some of the reports may have overstated the issue and understated the importance of a child's later years on development, evidence suggests that the early years may be a critical period of development in which family poverty has particularly strong effects on young children. As seen in Table 1, poverty occurring early in a child's life (age two to four) is associated with large effects on indices of child school readiness and cognitive outcomes.

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.

A primary purpose of preschool intervention programs is generally to assist at-risk students before they experience academic challenges, through enhancing foundation skills necessary for subsequent academic success. Basic literacy skills, pro social behaviors, and socio emotional development are often emphasized in pre-school programs. By enhancing skills for academic success through preschool programs, retention maybe prevented (p.52)

Early years in a child’s life ( when the brain is forming) represents a critically important window to develop a child’s full potential and shape academic, social, and cognitive skills. The Universal Prekindergarten Initiative urges each state to provide access to state funded preschool programs for four year olds. These programs would vary due to teacher qualifications, number of students, staff-child ratio, and operating schedule. Economic analysis ( Bowman) indicates that a better educational investment is in preschool education is in preschool education. To have a successful program states would need to support the prek. President Obama has called upon Congress to expand access to high quality preschool

A sensitive period refers to “a special sensibility which a creature acquires in its infantile state" (Montessori, 1966, p.38). Such sensitive periods were first discovered in insects by the Dutch scientist Hugo de Vries, but according to Montessori, can also be found in children and are very important to consider in teaching.

The years before kindergarten are among the most crucial time in a young child’s life to learn. School readiness, a multidimensional concept, has the ability to convey advantages in academic success in school. Children who enter school with early skills in math and reading tend to have more academic success, attain higher levels of education, and have a higher chance of securing employment (1). Their ability to recognize letters, read words in a book, write their own name, and count numbers are all factors that display early literacy and cognitive development, and in the past years, the number of young children with these qualities has increased over time. During the beginning years of a child's life, whether it’s from socioeconomics, ethnicity, daycare, or all of them combined, multiple factors influence a child’s readiness for school.

During the last 3 decades, increased attention has been focused upon the effects of emergent literacy in an early childhood education environment and children 's later knowledge (Roberts, Jurgens, & Burchinal, 2005). It was once believed that children learned to read and write only when they entered elementary school and received specific instruction. However, most research now indicates that a preschool environment is critical in the development of a variety of cognitive and linguistic skills and that it is an important factor in early literacy development (Levy, Gong, Hessels, Evans, & Jared, 2006; Rashia, Morris, & Sevick, 2005; Weigel, Martin, & Bennett, 2006). Research has shown that home experiences need to

It is a clear and worthy investment. The question lies in which preschool program is the most effective. Previous reviews of programs have focused on if they contributed to later success, but a few of them compared the programs on their effectiveness. A number of programs showed positive results continuing to the end of kindergarten and beyond, signifying that the preschool involvement had impacts aside from early exposure to academic content. (Johns Hopkins University, 37). Also, several programs had effects on oral language skills, which are emphasized in most preschools.