The Value of Child Care Centers

01/17/2008

The Value of Child Care Centers

I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it.
Nelson Mandela

A recent National Women's Law Center report, "A Center Piece of the PreK Puzzle: Providing State Prekindergarten in Child Care Centers," provides powerful support for including existing child care centers in PreK programs. Authors Karen Schulman and Helen Blank observe...

"As state-funded prekindergarten investments continue to grow across the country, it is more important than ever that policy makers take advantage of existing child care and other early childhood settings to offer families — especially families with parents in the workforce — options that can meet their diverse needs. Currently, the large majority of state prekindergarten programs are offered in public school settings...

"Offering prekindergarten in a child care center can help families with parents in the workforce who need full-day programs for their children. State-funded prekindergarten programs are typically not structured around the schedules of parents who need full-day, full-year services for their children. Most state prekindergarten programs are only funded for a part-day schedule — sometimes as little as two-and-a-half or three hours a day — and only during the school year. Child care centers can address this gap because they are able to offer full-day, full-year programming at a single location. Providing prekindergarten in centers can therefore be more convenient for parents, who do not have to determine how to bring their children from one location to another during the work day, as well as less disruptive for children, who do not have to be moved from one location to another each day and during the summer. In addition, parents with infants and toddlers, as well as prekindergarten-age children, can have all their children receive care at the same location."

Teacher Educators to Meet in New Zealand

The Working Forum for Teacher Educators, taking place in Auckland, New Zealand from April 30 - May 2, 2008, will facilitate the sharing of techniques, objectives, philosophies, and perspectives among teacher educators from around the world to enable them to improve their effectiveness. This Forum is designed for college instructors and independent trainers as well as individuals in private and public organizations responsible for the training of early childhood directors, teachers, and family child care providers. At the Forum, educators from around the world will present their perspectives on training adults, developing curriculum content, motivating learners, assessing learners' progress, and teaching and learning at a distance. Learn more about this Working Forum.

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