Why mind your P’s and Q’s?
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Research shows that children who attend high quality preschool programs perform better in school.
Children:
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Have stronger ELA and math skills
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Enter Kindergarten with a understanding of the classroom environment
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Have more developed social skills
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Benefit from increased access to Early Intervention Services
Children who attend high quality programs perform better in life and are
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More likely to graduate from high school
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More likely to be gainfully employed
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Less likely to be incarcerated
High quality preschool programs can include…
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Universal PreK
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Targeted PreK
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Day Care Centers
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Family Day Care Centers
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Group Family Day Care Homes
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Head Start Centers
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Nursery Schools
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Small Day Care Centers
Federal, state and local agencies are working to ensure quality education in all of these programs.
A quality preschool program includes…
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research-based developmentally appropriate curriculum
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on-going assessments of a child’s learning
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active, engaged, meaningful learning
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a balance of child-directed play and structured activities
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opportunities to build healthy relationships and classroom community
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organized child-friendly environment
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safe and healthy physical environment
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consistent daily routines
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celebration of diversity
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health screenings-vision and hearing
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educational screenings for early intervention
Brain research affirms
that quality preschool experiences
directly impact the success of
children throughout their school
years and beyond.
These are some other features of a quality preschool program.
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attention to nutritional needs
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family involvement and collaboration
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parent education
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communication of child’s progress to the family
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teaching staff with educational qualifications
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on-going professional staff development
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low teacher to student ratio
Adapted from: http://www.kidsource.com/kidsource/content3/identify.preschool.5.html
What are quality preschool learning standards?
New York State’s Prekindergarten (PreK) Learning Standards are organized into five specific developmental domains:
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Approaches to Learning:
How children become involved in learning
and acquiring knowledge.
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Physical Development and Health:
Children’s physical health and their ability
to engage in daily physical activities.
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Social and Emotional Development:
Children’s competence and ability to regulate
their emotions, behavior and attention, and to
form positive relationships with peers
and adults.
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Communication, Language and Literacy:
Children’s ability to understand, create and
communicate meaning.
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Cognition and Knowledge of the World:
What children need to know and understand
about their world and how they apply what
they know.
Excerpted from: www.p12.nysed.gov/.../common_core_standards/pdfdocs/prekindergarten_learning_standards_jan_10_2011.pdf - 2011-01-10
Resources:
Crisis in the Kindergarten — Why Children Need to Play in School
http://www.allianceforchildhood.org/sites/allianceforchildhood.org/files/file/kindergarten_report.pdf
National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC)
Developmentally Appropriate Practice in Early Childhood Programs
http://www.naeyc.org/store/files/store/TOC/375.pdf
The Albert Shanker Institute Preschool Curriculum
What’s In It for Children and Teachers
http://www.shankerinstitute.org/downloads/early%20childhood%2012-11-08.pdf
The State Education Department
Preschool Planning Guide: Building A Foundation for Development of Language and Literacy in the Early Years.
http://emsc.nysed.gov/ciai/pub/presch1.pdf
The US Department of Education
Building Strong Foundation for Early Learning: Guide to High-Quality Early Childhood Education Programs.
http://www.ed.gov/offices/OUS/PES/early_learning/Foundations.pdf
This document was developed by members of the
NYSUT Statewide Early Childhood Committee.
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