New look at benefits of quality preschool education
Summary
Quality preschool programs have long been connected to positive education and health outcomes for students, and over the past two decades, some state legislatures have taken steps to improve both the availability and the quality of these programs.
But there’s still a very long way to go: The coronaviruspandemic wiped out years of progress, and the National Conference of State Legislatures reports that only six states have established early-childhood agencies that have directors in cabinet-level positions. They are Alabama, Connecticut, Georgia, Massachusetts, New Mexico and Washington — and Alabama just saw its governor, Republican Kay Ivey, force the resignation of the woman in charge of its successful preschool program because Ivey didn’t like passages in a well-regarded book about developmentally appropriate practice in early-childhood programs.
This piece is a new review of early-childhood programs and why they are vital to the education and overall health of children. It was written by Robert A. Hahn and W. Steven Barnett. Hahn is an adjunct faculty member in the Department of Anthropology at Emory University and Barnett is a professor and senior co-director of the National Institute for Early Education Research at Rutgers University’s Graduate School of Education.
Source: The Washington Post (2023). New look at benefits of quality preschool education.