The National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER) provides me with many links to articles for research, assessment, the annual state Pre-K reports, and the blog, Preschool Matters. The blog, Preschool Matters, is sent to my email and always has pertinent information regarding high-quality early education. The research section is also informative with articles such as "Is Early Education Worth the Cost" or "There Is A Lot Of Talk About Early Childhood Education But Not Much Action."
In the Preschool Matters blog, the information about the success of the Perry Preschool project and the Abecedarian Project was interesting. I was surprised to read that in recent years, however, evaluations of the effects of some early childhood programs, most notably the Head Start Impact Study, have disappointed (Barnett, 2014, p. 1). Because of alternative early childhood experiences that have improved, comparison to Head Start gives the appearance of smaller effects for this program. This tells me that other daycare/preschools are now understanding how important it is to become a high-quality program.
NIEER projects that in 2030 all but 1 state would spend less on education from Pre-K though grade 12 under federal proposals that incentivize states to raise Pre-K quality standards, offer a full school day, and serve all children under 200 percent of the federal poverty level (Barnett, 2013, p. 1). Every dollar spent on a quality preschool program yields seven dollars to society. One article I read said that preschool access maybe a national security issue. Without enough skilled men and women available to serve in tomorrow's armed services, we endanger the future strength of our military. According to (Chandler, 2014), 75 percent of people from ages of 17-24 are ineligible to join armed services because they are poorly educated, have a criminal record, overweight, or otherwise unhealthy. Our biggest investment is early childhood education so children will grow up to be healthy, educated, and able to make important decisions about their own future. How wonderful that retired military officers are concerning themselves with early education. One retired General stated that early childhood education is not being funded as it should be.
Play and playful learning have a critical role in children's development and should not be lost to instructive teaching in preschools. Academic activities are embedded in playful learning and children learn socialization techniques, enhance language and problem solving skills, and cognitive skills. I understand that curriculum matters more when teachers are trained to implement it. My state needs more funding for the training of teachers.
Barnett, S. (2013). Expanding access to quality pre-k is sound public policy. National
Institute for Early Education Research. Retrieved from, http://www.nieer.org
Barnett, S. (2014). When it comes to preschool, modest results may be meaningful.
National Institute for Early Education Research. Retrieved from,
http://www.nieer.org
Chandler, M. (2014). Is preschool access a national security issue? National
Institute for Early Education Research. Retrieved from, http://www.nieer.org
The Perry School project definitely paved the way to make changes to our preschool and preK programs in providing a more developmentally sound and quality program. Hopefully other states will start to push for publicly funded quality universal programs such as Georgia, New York and Oklahoma and we'll begin to see a more positive change in providing the necessary resources for teachers, educators and our children.
ReplyDeleteJill,
ReplyDeleteInteresting. I had not heard the statistic that for every dollar spent it would yield $70. I am amazed at that. I am also amazed at how people don't buy into the investment in early childhood. I think so many rich, or upper middle class elitists believe it is not their problem. But then they want to complain when these people end up on public assistance later in life. I hope to see more positive changes in my city with the Obama's new investment in early childhood programs.
Jill,
ReplyDeleteThank you for your informative blog. I hadn't heard your statement regarding preschool access may becoming a security issue. Chandler's (2014) comment regarding 75% of people ages 17-24 being unfit to join the armed forces is mind blowing. It is great to hear that retired military officers are concerning themselves with the importance of early education. It is so important that we make sure our children grow up healthy and able to make informative decisions as they grow older. And i had never heard that for every dollar spent it yields 7 dollars to society, very interesting. Great blog!