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Amanda McIntyre

Preschool Reform: 5 Ways to Fix Pre-K in the U.S. - TIME - 3 views

www.time.com/...0,8599,2094847,00.html

reform Pre-K

shared by Amanda McIntyre on 19 May 12 - No Cached
    • Amanda McIntyre
      Amanda McIntyre on 19 May 12
       
      Preschool/Kindergarten are the first steps in an education career.
  • Amanda McIntyre on 19 May 12
     
    Take two kids, one from a low-income family, the other middle class. Let them run around and do little-kid things in their respective homes and then, at age 5, enroll them in kindergarten.
  • ...3 more comments...
  • Jill Hamilton on 19 May 12
     
    "Research shows that when the first day of school rolls around, the child from the low-income household will be as many as 1.5 years behind grade level in terms of language and prereading and premath skills. The middle-class kid will be as many as 1.5 years ahead. This means that, by the time these two 5-year-olds start school, the achievement gap between them is already as great as three years." I used to teach a bilingual prekindergarten class. It was grant-funded and had only 12 children. It was incredible how much progress those children could make in a year. They were nearly all from impoverished families and nearly all spoke exclusively Spanish at home. I had seen many start kindergarten and be "behind" for years. Yet, my students all started well-prepared, most of them reading, counting, and doing simple addition and subtraction. Unfortunately, the organization I worked for did not sustain its finding. Now I work with middle school kids, and although I love working with them, I often feel like I'm cleaning up a mess that could have been prevented through quality pre-kindergarten.
  • Craig Willey on 19 May 12
     
    You are right, Jill. This is one of the conclusive pieces of educational research out there. And, it's one of the initiatives that has growing support in Indy, yet they can't seem to convince policy-makers at the capitol. Yet another reason why we need to check ourselves when we throw around the phrase "achievement gap" given that there are many structural factors that contribute to differentiated tests scores.
  • Jenn Renner on 24 May 12
     
    I was not surprised at all by the research data of 5 year olds from low-income households compared to those from middle-class households. Lately, the number of students I have in first and second grades with delayed language development is increasing. I am now using teaching time to help catch those students up on basic language skills that their peers have already developed. Those students who have those basic skills are already ahead of the game...think of how much more ahead they will be in the years to come.
  • Jordan Perry on 25 May 12
     
    I feel this shows how important it is to start educating children at a young age.
  • chuxhold on 26 May 12
     
    This topic/article really strikes home for me. One of my dearest friends works in Mississippi in a Pre-K class. Her effervescent personality, dedication, and perservance would make any child want to come to school. She is in a very high poverty school system but overcomes this obstacle in her teaching and with her students. Preschool children are at an age where money and SES have no baring but influence and change do. Thanks for sharing this article!
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