By Janet Pinto, Chief Academic Officer, Curriki
The US is lagging behind other developed countries in Early Childhood Education. Many children enter school (Kindergarten and then primary school) unprepared and they tend to fall further and further behind during their many years of education. Early childhood education leads to improvements in students’ cognition and social and emotional maturity, and provides long-term positive results and cost benefits to society at large.
Childcare and PreK (before kindergarten) education provide many such benefits according to earlychildhood.nyc.org:
“Cognitively:
- Improves school performance
- Raises math and language abilities
- Sharpens thinking/attention skills
- Reduces special education placement
- Lowers school drop out rates
“Socially and emotionally:
- Improves and strengthen interactions with peers
- Decreases problem behaviors
- Encourages more exploratory behavior
- Helps adjustment to the demands of formal schooling
“Long-term positive results and cost savings of Early Childhood Education:
- Increases lifelong earning potential
- Achieves better academic outcomes
- Lowers rates of teen pregnancy and incarceration”
Here are some sites where you can investigate the benefits of, and issues around, Early Childhood Education:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/issues/education/early-childhood
http://www.earlychildhoodnyc.org/resources/aboutECE_whyImportant.cfm
And we have some excellent PreK resources on Curriki, including:
Shapes and Colors Science Kit –
http://library.curriki.org/xwiki/bin/view/Coll_cabocesmst/ShapesandColorsScienceKit?bc=
Meet a Puppeteer –
http://library.curriki.org/xwiki/bin/view/Coll_Nobiah/MeetaPuppeteer
Improving Learning –
Reading List for PreK –
http://library.curriki.org/xwiki/bin/view/Coll_briansharky22/PreK-KReadingList
Math Games –
http://library.curriki.org/xwiki/bin/view/Coll_Group_3rdGradeMathGames/MathGameTime
But we need more! If you have open educational resources suitable for PreK, please contribute these at:
http://library.curriki.org/welcome/resources-curricula/contribute-content/publish-resources/
