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Universal Preschool
September 19, 2016
Tal vez sea verdad: que un corazón es lo que mueve el mundo” ("Maybe it's true: that a heart is what moves the world.
-Dámaso Alonso, Spanish poet, 1898-1990
-Dámaso Alonso, Spanish poet, 1898-1990
New York City is working to provide preschool for all of the city’s public school 4 year-olds with a boost of money and additional staff/classroom requirements. "We believe that preschool is an integral part of the public-school system and public school should be universally available because every child can benefit from it," said Josh Wallack, the deputy chancellor of New York City's Department of Education in the August 2016 issue of The Atlantic. "Therefore, preschool should be universal."
These new classrooms will be expected to meet standards related to the Early Childhood Environment Rating Scales (ECERS) and teachers with higher levels of education will be hired.
"The city's experience with improving and expanding its existing preschool teaching force could provide a good test case for other cities or for the country as a whole, were the United States to pursue a national universal preschool program."
The Atlantic published a series about public preschools that can be found here.
The genesis for the development of the Program Administration Scale (PAS) was the growing consensus that the quality of early childhood programs should be determined by more than just the classroom environment. This valuable tool incorporates data obtained through interviews, document reviews, and observation to reliably measure the administrative practices of an early childhood program. The PAS includes 25 items clustered in 10 subscales, which measure both leadership and management functions of center-based early care and education programs. The PAS can be used in multiple ways: program self-improvement, technical assistance and monitoring, research and evaluation, and public awareness.
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Comments (5)
Displaying All 5 CommentsSense of Wonder Early Childhood Consultants
Baltimore, Maryland, United States
Oh my, here we go again. When will we once again let childhood take it's natural course? When did we decide that children needed to grow in an instructional environment filled with other children of the same age who don't know how to be social creatures? When did we decide we were so much smarter than children that we have to direct their learning or they will not develop? I suggest everyone read the article "A Thousand Rivers" @ carolblack.org and take a deep breath and reflect. Are you the teacher or a facilitator of learning? Can you view childhood as a very unique and special time of life that deserves respect in its own right, not because of what it will lead to?
SCP
Fillmore, Ca, United States
So sad! Take away what little childhood they have and throw academics down their throat. EVERYONE who has worked in the early childhood education field would say bad idea. Those who have never taught or worked in a preschool program of course are pushing for it.
Again, bad idea!
WCTC
Pewaukee, WIsconsin, United States
In my state, a private preschool program can be fined for having 14 preschoolers with one teacher. Yet, it is not uncommon for a public 4K to cram 29 children into a classroom with one teacher. Private ECE programs have regulations, public schools have "recommendations." This is one of many reasons I feel advocates for young children don't support "universal preschool."
CSBC
Denver, CO, United States
Are the preschool teachers being paid on the same salary scale as the k-12 teachers, and do they receive the same benefits? Any "quality" preschool program must address this issue!
St. James Nursery School
JENKINTOWN, PA - Pennsylvania, United States
The Atlantic article states that care and education go hand in hand. A child will not learn from some one he/she does not trust. I truly hope that these district wide Pre-k programs operate under the belief that care and learning go hand in hand. This is what parents do---care and educate, children learn as they grow from those that love them. If these preschool programs turn into worksheet-drilling-testing- and my numbing nonsense programs, a whole generation of children may be turned off to school before they even hit kindergarten---the districts had better get this right. I also strongly believe that 2 teachers is not nearly adequate in a room full of 20 4-year-olds---children need more care than that.
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