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Head Start, the largest federally funded program for children under 5, has been around for nearly 45 years. Given the Obama Administration's interest in using federal funding to support young children, one might think that Head Start was poised to enter one of its most expansive periods ever. But there are several huge unanswered questions about Head Start's future -- from how it should be coordinated with state-funded pre-K programs to whether it should put even more of its energies toward serving children younger than 3.
Our seven-part blog series explains how Head Start has changed over the years and considers where it may be headed. It is also available as a downloadable PDF, which includes the transcript from a public web chat on this topic hosted by Politico.com.
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So what exactly Is PreK-3rd? Learn more in this short video (7 min) that makes the case for comprehensive reforms that begin with high-quality early childhood education programs and build on the benefits of those programs through the elementary school years and beyond.
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The Case for Investing in PreK-3rd Education: Challenging Myths about School Reform, by Rima Shore
PreK-3rd: What Is The Price Tag? by Rima Shore
Promoting a Pre-K to Three Vision for Early Learning, The State Education Standard
Building Blocks, by Gene I. Maeroff
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- Center for the Advanced Study of Teaching and Learning
- Chicago Longitudinal Study
- U.S. Department of Education
- Foundation for Child Development
- Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute
- HighScope Educational Research Foundation
- Institute for Education Sciences
- National Association for the Education of YoungChildren
- National Early Childhood Accountability Task Force
- National Head Start Association
- National Institute for Early Education Research
- Office of Head Start
- Office of Planning, Research & Evaluation at ACF in HHS
- Research Connections
- Society for Research in Child Development
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To De-Pressurize Kindergarten, Here Are Four Must-Do's
In an op-ed for USA Today that came out this morning, I wrote about kindergarten -- a topic of heightened interest over the past six months as news stories, magazine pieces and research reports have sounded alarms about classrooms for 5-year-olds becoming pressure cookers.
In the piece I outlined four imperatives for improving the experience for all children, not to mention teachers:
- Allow playtime and learning to be one and the same.
Make preschool affordable for working families. Provide full-day kindergarten. Build a bridge between preschool and kindergarten.
These actions are interrelated. They will make the biggest impact if they are implemented together. For example, without a better bridge between preschool and kindergarten, teachers may not get the resources, support and mentoring they need to create classroom environments that provide simultaneous playtime and learning time. Until we have more children coming to kindergarten with preschool under their belt, kindergarten teachers will continue to feel pressure to cram as much academic preparation into the day as possible. Until full-day kindergarten is available to students around the country, teachers will feel so squeezed by the 9 a.m.-to-12 p.m. schedule that they may feel little choice but to drill their students and eliminate unstructured time and recess.
It's no accident that these actions are pillars of the PreK-3rd approach. Our hope is that as more school districts adopt these strategies, stories about pressure-cooker kindergartens will start to become a thing of the past and children will find themselves immersed in the kind of vibrant, playful and purposeful learning environments they deserve.
De-pressurizing Kindergarten
I am currently attending school to get my Bachelor of Science Degree in Early Childhood Education, specifically birth though age 8. I am focused on teaching Kindergarten. Throughout my studies, I have completed many observations in kindergarten classrooms. I find the pressure-cooker atmosphere to be the most common in my area of NE Ohio. I can honestly say that out of about a dozen classrooms, I have only found two that incorporate play into the curriculum. I have observed that children are more engaged and willing to follow classroom schedules and rules after having engaged in brief, play-centered activites that often include content learning. In classrooms where they do not incorporate play, the children are restless and unable to focus their attention. Play is a powerful motivator, stress reliever, and is much deserved by children of this age. I also agree that kindergaten should be a full-day experience. Not only would it afford additional time to fit play into classroom life, but it prepares our children for the first grade reality of having to stay in school for a full day.
Importance of Play
I completely agree with you. I am also attending school and will be soon certified for 3yrs to third grade and am very interested in kindergarten. The school that I am in for observation has an all day kindergarten and the benefits are huge! During the day when the children seem to be getting restless and aren't able to focus, a period of ten to fifteen minutes of "free choice" can help them re-focus and have more success with the lesson after the ten to fifteen minute break for them. Especially for the children that may not have had the opportunity to attend preschool, having breaks throughout the day can help them with the transition. If their kindergarten class was only a half-day program it would be harder for them to go from no school to sitting through three or four hours straight of instruction.
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