Early Childhood Education Act

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The Early Childhood Education Act is the name of various landmark laws passed by the United States Congress outlining federal programs and funding for childhood education from pre-school through kindergarten. [1] The first such act was introduced in the United States House of Representatives by Congresswoman Patsy Mink of Hawaiʻi in the 1960s. The theory behind the act is that the years before a child reaches kindergarten are the most critical to influence learning. Many children do not have access to early education before entering kindergarten. [2] The goal of the act is to provide a comprehensive set of services for children from birth until they enter kindergarten. [1]

Contents

Legislative history

Since the Early Childhood Education Act was initiated in the 60s, various laws have been passed and continue to be passed as part of the Early Childhood Education Act to better prepare young children for school. These programs were intended to help children in the pre-kindergarten years to be more successful once starting school.

Head start

Founded in 1965 by Jule Sugarman, Head start was one of the first programs initiated as a result of the Early Childhood Education Act. Its goal is to enhance the social and cognitive development of children offering services in the area of education, health, social and nutrition. [3] This program was originally intended to be a "catch up summer school" that would teach the children from low-income families everything that they need to know before starting school in only a few weeks span. The program has since been redefined and acts have been passed for Head Start programs to keep progressing towards providing better services to pre-kindergarten children from low-income families. [4]

National Academy of Early Childhood Programs

In 1985 the National Association for the Education of Young Children established the National Academy of Early Childhood Programs for voluntary accreditation according to health, safety and education standards. This program was intended to create a more reliable standard of accreditation for early childhood education programs. [3] The program's goal is to promote quality and excellence in early childhood programs across the United States. There are NAECP located all across the country that offer classes in order to become an accredited ECE program.

Even Start Program

In 1988, The U.S. Department of Education established the Even Start Program to improve parent and family literacy at home. This program was designed to improve parents literacy so they can ultimately help their children become literate and reach their full potential as learners. It integrates early childhood education, adult education and family literacy. [3]

No Child Left Behind Act

The No Child Left Behind Act was proposed by George W. Bush and passed by United States House of Representatives in 2001. The Act requires that all public schools receive federal funding to administer a standardized test annually to assess if students have made Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP). Schools must provide services to students who do not meet AYP in order to help them succeed and pass AYP the following year. [3]

Preschool for All Initiative

In 2013, President Obama proposed the Preschool for All initiative. The goal of this program is to expand funding in all fifty states to allow low and mid-income families the opportunity to provide their four-year-old children with high quality preschool. [3]

Provisions of the act

Laws under the Early Childhood Education Act offer comprehensive services for children from birth through age five. [1] Programs should meet one the following goals: ·Provide access to high-quality infant and toddler care [2]

·Expand voluntary home visit early learning program s [2]

·Develop partnerships with states to provide high-quality preschool for low and middle-income families [2]

Current programs

Early Reading First was established as part of the No Child Left Behind Act. It provides competitive grants to fund the development of model programs that aim to prepare children for school. [5] The Special Education Preschool Grants program provides grants to states to fund special educational services to children 3 to 5 with disabilities. The Special Education Grants for Infants and Families grant program assists states in implementing services for children with disabilities from birth to 2 years old. [1] The Early Childhood Educator Professional Development Program is a competitive grant program that gives the opportunity to professionally develop skills to educators and caregivers working in low-income areas. [1]

Research and evaluations

Research

The Preschool Curriculum Evaluation Research program evaluates the efficiency of current preschool curricula in order to address the lack of systematic evaluations currently used. The data collected includes child assessments, parent interviews, teacher interviews and classroom observations. [1] Evaluations were made to commonly assess the types of assessments that preschool programs across the country were giving their children before they left and went to kindergarten. These evaluations were focused on the fact that preschools were not assessing children on a rigorous scale that efficiently prepared them to enter grade school. [6] What children learn and the skills they gain in Pre-Kindergarten and Kindergarten determine how well they will succeed academically in the next few years that follow. [7]

The National Institute for Early Childhood Research is an institute that concentrates on using research to support and enhance Early Childhood programs in the United States. This institute has been using research to promote a higher education for young children since 2002. They are currently doing research on several projects. [8]

Evaluations

The 'Even Start Classroom Literacy Interventions and Outcomes Study is a controlled study that assesses the contribution of the enhanced parenting component of the program. This program was created in 1989. The focus of this program was to help the parents of low-income families in order to improve the literacy skills of their children. By increasing the parents' knowledge and skills needed for reading and writing, the literacy skills of their young children would most likely increase as well. [9] It focuses on evaluating whether focused literacy instruction combined with parent education will provide better outcomes than current programs. [1]

The Early Reading First National Evaluation assesses the impact of the program on children's language, literacy outcomes and preschools’ literacy instruction. The main focus of this study was to give the children of low-income families the opportunity to gain the necessary academic skills need to succeed in school. [10] The study compares schools’ programs who received funding from the Early reading grant and those who did not. [1]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kindergarten</span> Preschool educational approach

Kindergarten is a preschool educational approach based on playing, singing, practical activities such as drawing, and social interaction as part of the transition from home to school. Such institutions were originally made in the late 18th century in Germany, Bavaria and Alsace to serve children whose parents both worked outside home. The term was coined by German pedagogue Friedrich Fröbel, whose approach globally influenced early-years education. Today, the term is used in many countries to describe a variety of educational institutions and learning spaces for children ranging from two to six years of age, based on a variety of teaching methods.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Head Start (program)</span> U.S. federal aid program for low-income childcare

Head Start is a program of the United States Department of Health and Human Services that provides comprehensive early childhood education, health, nutrition, and parent involvement services to low-income children and families. The program's services and resources are designed to foster stable family relationships, enhance children's physical and emotional well-being, and establish an environment to develop strong cognitive skills. The transition from preschool to elementary school imposes diverse developmental challenges that include requiring the children to engage successfully with their peers outside the family network, adjust to the space of a classroom, and meet the expectations the school setting provides.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Child care</span> Care and supervision of children

Child care, otherwise known as day care, is the care and supervision of a child or multiple children at a time, whose ages range from two weeks of age to 18 years. Although most parents spend a significant amount of time caring for their child(ren), child care typically refers to the care provided by caregivers that are not the child's parents. Child care is a broad topic that covers a wide spectrum of professionals, institutions, contexts, activities, and social and cultural conventions. Early child care is an equally important and often overlooked component of child's developments.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Preschool</span> Educational establishment offering early childhood education to children

A preschool, also known as nursery school, pre-primary school, play school or creche, is an educational establishment or learning space offering early childhood education to children before they begin compulsory education at primary school. It may be publicly or privately operated, and may be subsidized from public funds.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">No Child Left Behind Act</span> 2002 United States education reform law; repealed 2015

The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) was a U.S. Act of Congress that reauthorized the Elementary and Secondary Education Act; it included Title I provisions applying to disadvantaged students. It supported standards-based education reform based on the premise that setting high standards and establishing measurable goals could improve individual outcomes in education. The Act required states to develop assessments in basic skills. To receive federal school funding, states had to give these assessments to all students at select grade levels.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elementary and Secondary Education Act</span> 1965 US law, part of Johnsons War on Poverty

The Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) was passed by the 89th United States Congress and signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson on April 11, 1965. Part of Johnson's "War on Poverty", the act has been one of the most far-reaching pieces of federal legislation affecting education ever passed by the United States Congress, and was further emphasized and reinvented by its modern, revised No Child Left Behind Act.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pre-kindergarten</span> School program for children before kindergarten

Pre-kindergarten is a voluntary classroom-based preschool program for children below the age of five in the United States, Canada, Turkey and Greece. It may be delivered through a preschool or within a reception year in elementary school. Pre-kindergartens play an important role in early childhood education. They have existed in the US since 1922, normally run by private organizations. The U.S. Head Start program, the country's first federally funded pre-kindergarten program, was founded in 1967. This attempts to prepare children to succeed in school.

Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) is a measurement defined by the United States federal No Child Left Behind Act that allows the U.S. Department of Education to determine how every public school and school district in the country is performing academically according to results on standardized tests. As defined by National Council on Measurement in Education (NCME), AYP is "the amount of annual achievement growth to be expected by students in a particular school, district, or state in the U.S. federal accountability system, No Child Left Behind (NCLB)." AYP has been identified as one of the sources of controversy surrounding George W. Bush administration's Elementary and Secondary Education Act. Private schools are not required to make AYP.

Universal preschool is an international movement supporting the use of public funding to provide preschool education to all families. This movement is focused on promoting a global, rather than local, preschool program. The goal is to provide equity across all socioeconomic backgrounds, enabling children to improve their academic and social skills before they attend kindergarten. Universal preschool, funded by the public, would allow more families to send their children to preschool.

Early Head Start is a federally funded community-based program for low-income families with pregnant women, infants, and toddlers up to age 3. It is a program that came out of Head Start. The program was designed in 1994 by an Advisory Committee on Services for Families with Infants and Toddlers formed by the Secretary of Health and Human Services. "In addition to providing or linking families with needed services—medical, mental health, nutrition, and education—Early Head Start can provide a place for children to experience consistent, nurturing relationships and stable, ongoing routines."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Literacy in the United States</span> Overview of literacy in the United States

Literacy in the United States was categorized by the National Center for Education Statistics into different literacy levels, with 92% of American adults having at least "Level 1" literacy in 2019. Nationally, over 20% of adult Americans have a literacy proficiency at or below Level 1. Adults in this range have difficulty using or understanding print materials. Those on the higher end of this category can perform simple tasks based on the information they read, but adults below Level 1 may only understand very basic vocabulary or be functionally illiterate. According to a 2020 report by the U.S. Department of Education, 54% of adults in the United States have English prose literacy below the 6th-grade level.

Susan Neuman is an educator, researcher, and education policy-maker in early childhood and literacy development. In 2013, she became Professor of Early Childhood and Literacy Education, and Chair of the Department of Teaching and Learning at NYU's Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Avance (non-profit organization)</span>

AVANCE is an American non-profit organization, headquartered in San Antonio, Texas with locations across the United States. Formed in 1973, it provides free parenting and early childhood education programs to low-income, predominantly Hispanic, families with children of up to three years of age.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">First 5 Los Angeles</span>

First 5 Los Angeles is a nonprofit child-advocacy organization that is part of the First 5 California Children and Families Act.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kindergarten readiness</span>

Kindergarten readiness refers to the developmental domains that contribute to children's ability to adapt to the kindergarten classroom, which is often a new and unfamiliar environment. There is no single agreed upon definition of Kindergarten readiness. The domains often included in the definition comprise: academic skills, social-emotional development, and physical development. In addition to these competencies, the child's environment and opportunities for learning should also be considered. This includes the child's home environment and their interactions with teachers and peers.

Laura M. Justice is a language scientist and expert on interventions to promote children's literacy. She is the EHE Distinguished Professor of Educational Psychology at Ohio State University, where she also serves as the Executive Director of the A. Sophie Rogers School for Early Learning.

Adam Winsler is a developmental psychologist known for his research on early child development, private speech, and benefits of arts education. Winsler is Professor of Applied Developmental Psychology at George Mason University.

Elizabeth Cascio is an applied economist and currently a Professor of Economics who holds the DeWalt H. 1921 and Marie H. Ankeny Professorship in Economic Policy at Dartmouth College. Her research interests are in labor economics and public economics, and focus on the economic impact of policies affecting education in the United States. She is also a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research, a research associate at the IZA Institute of Labor Economics, and Co-editor of the Journal of Human Resources.

Early childhood education in the United States relates to the teaching of children from birth up to the age of eight. The education services are delivered via preschools and kindergartens.

Cassandra Cybele Raver is an American developmental psychologist currently serving as Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs at Vanderbilt University. She previously served as Deputy Provost at New York University and Professor of Applied Psychology in the Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development at NYU.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 U.S Department of Education. "Archived: Early Childhood Education." Archived: Early Childhood Education. Web. 8 Nov. 2014
  2. 1 2 3 4 U.S Department of Education. "Early Learning: America's Middle Class Promise Begins Early." U.S. Department of Education. Web. 9 Nov. 2014.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 "Milestones: A Child Care History Timeline." Milestones: A Child Care History Timeline, 2011. Web. 9 Nov. 2014.
  4. ↑ Head Start (program). (2018, November 22). Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Head_Start_(program)
  5. ↑ name = Early Education
  6. ↑ Preschool Curriculum Evaluation Research. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://ies.ed.gov/ncer/projects/program.asp?ProgID=17
  7. ↑ Preschool Curriculum Evaluation Research Consortium (2008). Effects of Preschool Curriculum Programs on School Readiness (NCER 2008-2009). Washington, DC: National Center for Education Research, Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.
  8. ↑ "National Institute for Early Childhood Education Research".
  9. ↑ "A Study of Classroom Literacy Interventions and Outcomes in Even Start".
  10. ↑ Russell Jackson, McCoy, Ann, Pistorino, Carol, Wilkinson, Anna, Burghardt, John, Clark, Melissa, Ross Christine, Schochet, Peter and Swank, Paul. 2011 [2007]. National Evaluation of Early Reading First: Final Report. NCEE 2007-4007rev. U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.
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