Article by Pluto Beck
When the words “early childhood education” are used, many things come to mind. Some think of the early grades in elementary school. Others with young children view early childhood education to possibly include everything pre-kindergarten and under. The government refers to early childhood education as 0 to 5 years.
Two departments, Human Services and the Education Department began working in sync to offer both child care and health services. These components worked well together to meet the needs of childcare. Both children and parents across the US improved the outlook for the academic experience according to the National Academy of Sciences publications. It had an impact on the entire family when the caregivers followed through with the parents at home.
A change will be happening as the first graders will be groomed in cognitive and social readiness when they enter the first grade of school. This move is prompted by calls to the White House to act upon some research studies done that indicate the positive impact of Head start programs and other early childhood education studies. Program evaluations found early child care and education made an impression upon the cognitive skills, health and behavior status of children through graduation.
Kindergarten programs in the study were the Head start programs, the early training programs for mothers and infants as well as the State Pre-K projects in schools. All aspects of childhood care and education focused on bringing the child to a highly prepared level as they entered first grade. The education included parents to make them aware of the importance of their child’s early development. The best student results we paired with a family support system as well as early childhood education before entering the first grade.
The same children who started out in childcare programs decades ago were tracked and the results show reductions in criminal behavior resulted. There are also indications that the dropout rate was decreased because issues that began for children were addressed before they ever entered the first grade. Researchers in childcare discovered that those who drop out of school must be attended to before their third grade class in school.
Reports of positive early childhood education indicated dropout rates were lowered along with the problems in criminal behavior. IQ’s were improved and this gave children confidence in their early childhood education years. These documented results prompted phone calls to the White House from the American people to continue funding early childhood education projects.
The achievements that prompted legislature to continue to fund the early childhood projects were also based on the financial improvements in long term results. When children were influenced to graduate and remain good citizens in their communities, the country found they saved .00 to every single dollar spent on the education of preschoolers. These positive findings impressed the government and US citizens to continue their focus on early childhood education.