Preschool education is one of the few issues on which there appears to be genuine bipartisan support, the Néw York Times reports. It was the centerpiece of Mayor Bill de Blasio’s landslide campaign, and red states like Grorgia and Oklahoma boast of their pre-K programs as models.
The article cites the solid research as well as the critics who dispute the research.
It would be useful for future reporting to show how far behind other nations the US lags in protecting its youngest citizens. Authoritative surveys show we are far behind in providing prenatal care to pregnant women and in supplying high-quality preschool.
I stand with those who speak of the 0-5 continuum. Life does not begin at age 4.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Pre-K is a slam dunk for reformers because they don’t have to go to all the trouble of dismantling a public system to clear the ground.
I can see lots of value in Pre-K education done properly. My fear is that what’s really being proposed and supported at this point is more of the same bad one-size-fits-all, test-driven, developmentally-inappropriate mess that is being inflicted on our elementary students. Every time Duncan et al express concern that we’re seeing students who “aren’t ready” for Kindergarten, I get a bad feeling about what they have in mind for Pre-K.
This.
Yes, we need to be prepared to keep Common Core out of our preschools!
So true. New York actually has “Common Core Standards” for PreK.
http://www.p12.nysed.gov/ciai/common_core_standards/
My gut feeling on this is that it’s all about control and selling iPads. This is not a move to support DEVELOPMENTALLY appropriate supportive settings in which children will thrive!
This too.
Pre K could be very dangerous and a psychological health crisis for children.
Pre K should be opposed, being with “any” mother or she wolf is better.
How about a mother center with games and creative crafts, no reading or writing or “instruction”, maybe listening to fairy tales.
Wait! That used to be called Kindergarten.
I teach pre-k in a NYC urban public school. I have taught in the same school for 15 consecutive years. I have seen the program go from a wonderful opportunity for children to develop social skills and learn to love learning. Singing, dancing, reading stories, being messy were all part of the program-and a nap in the middle of the day to refresh. (the students, not the teachers)
Now we are part of the common core and 4 year old children are required to master skills that are more appropriate for 1st graders. There is scarce time for play and my school has eliminated naps. We eat in the cafeteria with the general population (no longer do we eat in our rooms and have pleasant luncheon conversations) We are always in a rush to get to the next subject/activity. The number of children who are struggling in this environment grows each year and many are labeled when the reality is the program is not serving their needs.
I personally am very concerned about expanding pre-k (the charters want a piece of it also) because I fear it will become a pushed down K even more and more and more children will be labeled failures at 3 and 4.
If the mayor and the chancellor really want to know how to make pre-k a jewel in the NYC public school crown, they should survey every pre-k teacher in the city for suggestions.
I have already written to them with two minor concerns. Because they now want the educational assistant to be a 2nd teachers in the room, they need to provide time so the teacher and the assistant can plan together. Currently the assistant stays with the children when they have specials so the teacher and the assistant never have an opportunity to plan together. And they need to take empowerment away from the principals and restore the Pre-K umbrella that served us well. Pre-K classrooms receive separate funding for materials and programs, and trips. All too often the pre-k classes never see that money because it is in the control of the principal.
I am hopeful that the mayor and his chancellor will take pre-k seriously enough to do it right.
Sheila Schlesinger: “my school has eliminated naps.”
Are we already down that road foretold so long ago by one of those old dead Greek guys?
“Whom the gods would destroy, they first make mad.” [Euripides]
😎
“. . . a nap in the middle of the day to refresh. (the students, not the teachers).”
Nap time should damn well include the teachers.
Everybody who has commented is voicing the unease I feel.
I have a bad feeling some supporters of pre-K are seeing it as a new corporate profit center. They’ll impose any wacko marketing claim on the babies, blithely claiming it will render them college and career ready.
I’m also worried about imposing more institutionalized demands on little children, and depriving them of authentic responsive environments and enduring relationships.
I think universal preK would be a wonderful addition to our public schools… First though, we need universal K in NY State! Outside of NYC, many districts do not have kindergarten or do not have full day kindergarten programs. Once again Cuomo appears to put the cart before the proverbial horse… Will Cuomo ever learn that he needs to consult with NY educators before he tries to implement policies for NY public schools?
A full day academic focused program for four year olds is not developmentally appropriate. I fear this is more of the same for America’s children – test prep for preschoolers this time around. Amazing that legislation like this is going through when psychologists are discovering how much we’ve lost as our children lose their unstructured playtime.
Once again, a good…no GREAT…idea like universal preK is likely to be hijacked for profit. No good deed will go unpunished! So sad that this is the filter that we see through nowadays.
I don’t trust anything while Arne Duncan is there.
I’m not sure that universal preK is a “great” nor even “good” idea. Let kid’s be kids before we totally manipulate them into being “good citizens”.
“Experience should teach us to be most on our guard to protect liberty when the government’s purposes are beneficient… The greatest dangers to liberty lurk in insidious encroachment by men of zeal, well meaning but without understanding.”
— Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis
I am very wary of what Universal Pre-K will mean to young children and their families. And teachers. I’m not buying it.The plan’s aroma suggests an early introduction to common core ideals and standardized testing-especially for the families at the bottom of the socio-economic heap.
Why not a push for developmentally appropriate, family supportive, universal childcare and food program with some parent education? Implemented by Early Childhood Specialists.
I’m with you, chemtchr.
Fordham Institute (Checkers Finn) went on record as saying this President’s plan for preschool would provide a “windfall” to parents who can afford to pay for preschool…. Who gets a “windfall” in this economy?????? Not the parents; not the students….
I think Fordham is likely right on this. As with school vouchers, people who were already paying the cost of private schooling suddenly find themselves with a handy subsidy, like having the feds suddenly deciding to make your house payments for you.
It really depends on how this will be implemented. Those who use independent facilities will not likely get a check from the state….My thinking is that the public and independent sectors as they exist in public schools will be replicated for pre-k…it will just be swept in…..
As a Indiana preschool/K teacher, I’m disenheartened that Gov. Pence pays lips service to statewide PreK while cutting school funding. I am fortunate to work in a district which values early childhood education and pays for it beyond the state’s limits.
You should read Robert C. Pianta’s comments in the letter to the Editor section of the NYT in today’s paper. I believe it is also online.
I stand with you too…life begins at day one!!!
I agree with most of the comments above especially “chemtel’s.”
After I see what Pre Kindergarten teachers are asking students to do I have great reservations about pushing for Pre- K. Emphases should not be placed on learning the names and sounds of the alphabet, writing, and math concepts that are not age appropriate. Plus they receive homework!!!!! Ugh!!!!!! It is just not age appropriate. This past week my four year old grandson was given an assignment to draw various aspects about himself for homework. For first graders to do that in school is a great idea but not kindergarten and above all not pre k. And not for homework!!! No homework for young children except listen to their caregivers read stories to them. Our four-year-old grandson doesn’t want to draw himself because he obviously knows he can’t draw like his father. Oh, the dear child whose parents may not realize it is an inappropriate assignment and force the child to do the drawing. (My grandson did draw himself and did a great job but his father tried to improve his hair!!! Very problematic!!!!! Now he doesn’t want to draw.)
Pre-schoolers should be listening to many, many stories – good literature, dramatizing good literature; listening to nursery rhymes, finger plays, songs, work with puppets, clay, building blocks, sand, interacting … Develop their imagination instead of taxing their memory with useless activities. There is plenty of time in kindergarten and first grade to learn the sounds and names of the alphabet indirectly. (Children can be instructed in the skills and strategies of reading after learning just a portion of the letters. With each story they learn to read, they can learn a new phonetic element and learn how to write it. At that point they also learn meaningful vocabulary.)
Teaching the alphabet in isolation to four year olds is over taxing the memory. Certainly four year olds can learn the names and sounds but for what purpose. Learning time is too valuable to spend on inappropriate activities. Hold off with the writing. Putting a pencil in the hands too young will develop bad habits in trying to control it- so frustrating for many that age.
Certainly there are children-few and far between- who can read at the age of four but that should not be our goal. We should give them age appropriate activities. How many pre-k teachers have to follow directives from higher authority. More harm then good will be the result.
Furthermore, why do we have to compete with other countries? Why not work with the talents we have and stop imposing inappropriate tasks. Stop pushing and let them learn at a non threatening pace encouraging happy, congenial children who have the desire to learn; let’s not squelch it. Separation anxiety will compound problems instead of helping the four year olds. We should start listening to the experts in the field.
In my day,…I went to kindergarten not knowing how to write my name or recite the alphabet. A young male classmate taught me how to write my name. It looked remarkably like his own, which was indecipherable. Most of kindergarten was devoted to learning how to play together and equally important pre-academic skills like using writing implements like crayons and paint brushes. The teacher didn’t “teach” us anything. That came in 1st grade where I remember starting in the low reading group with Dick and Jane, Sally, Spot and Fluffy. My first big word was “something.” I was eager to master Dick and Jane and it wasn’t too long before Robin and I both moved to the advanced group where, as far as I can remember, we still read about Dick and Jane. I still have my first grade book that we all made. Everyone drew a picture for everyone else that we each pasted in our homemade books. They also included the lyrics from the songs in our performance at the end of the year. I think I was a flower. I’ll have to check; the lyrics will bring it back. Does anyone think that the plans being hatched will honor childhood as these memories did? They have already pushed most of first grade down into kindergarten. Where have the dress-up corner and the blocks gone?
The magic of those wonderful readers were the illustrations and stories of children enjoying being children. As children, we saw ourselves in the characters as they raced buggies, dressed in costumes, and enjoyed play and friendships. Although simple in words, our imaginations flourished, and our confidence grew, as we became readers. And the best part, our teachers had time to discuss how the characters felt, guiding us all to be better human beings.
During my last year of teaching, I found some of these stories again, and shared them with a student struggling with beginning reading. He absolutely loved the stories and started finally to have some success with reading. The repetitive, simple stories were what he needed for learning. His joy reminded me why I enjoyed them as a child.
I can still see the pictures 55+ years later.
We must no longer allow fear of corporate profiteers, the CCSS, or of each other’s differing opinions to hinder our support of policies that will provide research-based positive outcomes for our students. Universal Prekindergarten supports time-sensitive brain development through hands-on, developmentally appropriate planned learning opportunities the children enjoy as “play”. Yes, there is that underlying concern that we will have “CCSS Redeux”, but parents, legislators, and some school administrative bodies are now aware of the lack of differentiated instruction/assessment inherent in these “immutable” standards. The vested stakeholders of our nation’s traditional education will not allow for such. WE will not allow it, either.
Universal Prekindergarten also allows for provision of early intervention services not only to the child but to the family unit as a whole. When a family is burdened with poverty, addiction, mental illness, chronic illness, illiteracy or limited English proficiency, this negatively impacts the child, our “one-day” student. When we support the family, the child invariably benefits. The child is allowed to grow and thrive in a less-hostile, supportive environment with fewer environmental “toxins” to educational development. Also, the family becomes more invested in the learning environment of the child, increasing over time the permeability of the boundary (sometimes “barrier”) of school. Therefore, positive inputs are facilitated over time – the time of that child’s educational experience with us.
Your belief in an overbearing “overlord” who would see that all families comply with preset notions of behavior, being and beliefs is quite scary.
I share your unease, Duane. Pretty soon we will all have to attend best practice classes for parenting. Who is for creating a monoculture?
Parenting classes would be a very good thing, actually. If I legally could share some of the things I hear from both parents and children, not to mention what I see into community, I think you would agree that some parenting education is in order.
Louisiana has a special history of isolation and oppression. Just read its history, starting with the Acadian expulsion from Nova Scotia. It is in a societal/cultural context within which I make my assertions.
I welcome your reply.
I should have put “best practice” in quotes. It has been used to push all sorts of less than sterling curriculum packages. I suspect that our unease comes from looking at your words in our own context. When you describe your situation, the picture looks different. Not that “those folks” need programming that the rest of don’t but they need help to even hope to reap some of the benefits a democratic society should supply. One of the problems with trying to legislate educational policy on a national level is the range of views that are specific to a region that make up a mosaic of needs across the country.
Thank you for your thoughtful consideration and reply. My father is from a family of teachers in Ohio. My stepfather was a Texan. My maternal grandmother was a WWII British “war bride”. I grew up in the southern part of Louisiana – there’s a saying that “Anything north of I-10 is ‘South Arkansas/East Texas’.” I’ve lived in OK and TN, as well as in Baton Rouge and NO (Weatbank) here in LA. I live in Lafayette now. This state is unlike any other in my experience.
That being said, I so agree that policies of educational nature should not, can not, be dictated on a national level. Education is about people, though the corporate raiders, TFA/Rhee jihadists, and data czars would like to believe (and make us believe) it is all about numbers. This is why being professionally trained as an educator, taking the time to have reflective as opposed to brief teaching field experiences is not just preferable but ESSENTIAL! I fear that soon the profession will be dominated by more business-minded individuals who cannot wrap their minds around the socio/psycho/cognitive/developmental/contextual aspects that comprise one solitary being.
Final thought: Abolish the US Department of Education. Elect a Presidential candidate who will make this a true goal and not an empty campaign promise. Also, elect someone who truly believes and has a proven track record of working toward equity of opportunity. Then we all may have an equal chance at “life, Liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”
Thanks again! Off to work!
Actually, I’m quite sorry if it appears that way. I worked in therapeutic foster care years ago and teach kindergarten now. We have a high % of poverty at our school, and we are an ESL school. I’m not sure what you mean by “preset notions of behavior”: I am certain that if we spoke more directly you would understand that I am quite open and tolerant regarding behavior.
Here in Louisiana, we have problems that date back to slavery. We have school systems released from desegregation lawsuits only a couple of years back. We have homes in my community where the Confederate flag is flown. There is still a sense that allowing our brothers and sisters to wallow in poverty and send their children to “those schools” is okay …based upon primarily race or ethnicity. It is from that background I make my assertions, by which I stand.
I welcome your reply.
In L.A. we have regulare state-run pre-K and a special originally designed for language but now more like K complete with homework. It is four days a week, and parent participation once a week is supposed to be mandatory.
I don’t know how they are planning to improve the pre-K curriculum but I hope it is more on activities to enhance the minds of the kids and not just using a lot of electronic device for their practice. I’ve seen a lot of preschool blogs recently and their activities and based on the photos the kids enjoyed it much so I prefer my kids educated in that way.
My hope is that the AFT and other professional organizations (NAEP, NASSP, etc.) become agressive with this now popular educational initiative. Before Pearson or Arnie Duncan stick their accountability noses into pre-school education, professional educators need to employ the best and brightest in the field to author what a model pre-school program should look like —from governing philosophy (e.g. developmentally appropriate) to training of teachers to design of classrooms to activity structures, etc. I would employ Mary Wright Edelman to chair this blue ribbon committee. I know that there are a number of outstanding pre-school models out there (e.g. Perry Pre-School), and certainly these could provide foot notes to a comprehensive model of pre-school education. Instead reacting to whatever Congress or a state legislature would come up with, professional educators need to get out in front of this initiative before it gets folded into a race to the top add on.
Here is one from NYC and the Children’s Aid Society with Common Core:
Tools of the Mind? controlling impulses? “writing” “play plans”?
(No mention of play yet)
who did the “research”? the “doctors” at Gitmo?
◦Researched-based curriculum. Most of the Children’s Aid sites use a curriculum called Tools of the Mind, which emphasizes dramatic play, controlling impulses and planning a set of tasks, like writing “play plans.” The curriculum is tied to the Common Core learning standards for pre-k.
continued:
◦”Student assessments. Teachers are expected to observe and note each child’s development. If a child is, say, exhibiting trouble with letters, numbers or motor skills then the teacher is expected to individualize instruction to help students advance”.
Will these notes from a BA teacher with an early childhood degree carry through the child’s lifetime?
no troubles with listening and telling stories? having empathy with others? communicating with peers? the teacher? creativity in the arts?
which motor skills are we talking about? holding a crayon? dancing? walking? running? climbing? or just hating to do the alphabet.
Joseph, I am one of those pre-k teachers who is expected to not only observe and note children’s progress but give performance tasks in each academic domain. It breaks my heart. Even though I try to make it fun, my kids know they are being tested. They’re young but not stupid. I am way more concerned about their social skills-can they get along with the other children in the class? What do they like to do? paint, sing, dance? The suits pay lip service to social skills but want that DATA!
So many of my students are stressed and act out in frustration. No more walks around the block to look at trees. I need a lesson plan to take my students for a walk. Everything MUST have a purpose and enjoying the outdoors is not a purpose.
It truly saddens me and I continue to try and fit in as much fun as I can but I fear I am losing the battle.
A chip off the old block. Like father, like son. The apple doesn’t fall too far from the
tree. Garbage in, garbage out. Go Along to Get Along.
It seems the benevolent Emperor is unhappy with the chips, sons, or apples, produced
by the parents enhanced by his initial benevolent gestures. The Emperor calls for even
more gestures of benevolence, for the greater good, to enact the will of the people.
The Alchemy of changing chips, sons, and apples, shall be refined, to produce
even greater results. Even though the Alchemy of days gone by has produced the
grove from which the present apples fall, the Emperor senses the greatest good
has yet to be achieved. Pre-K “Conditioning” of the people, for the people, and by
the people shall coincide with the Government of the people, for the people, and
by the people.
GIGO exists through GAGA…
Adding my voice to those who are uneasy with what Pre-K means. Stop forcing children to learn to read before they are physiologically ready! Six is early enough. Yes, Pre-K means play, dance, song, naps, mess. And it should NOT be mandatory.