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.
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 to eighteen years. 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 development.
A preschool, also known as nursery school, pre-primary school, or play school, 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.
The Reggio Emilia approach is an educational philosophy and pedagogy focused on preschool and primary education. This approach is a student-centered and constructivist self-guided curriculum that uses self-directed, experiential learning in relationship-driven environments. The programme is based on the principles of respect, responsibility and community through exploration, discovery and play.
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. 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. The goal of the act is to provide a comprehensive set of services for children from birth until they enter kindergarten.
Reading Is Fundamental, Inc. (RIF) is the largest non-profit children's literacy organization in the United States. RIF provides resources such as books, STEM-themed classroom activities, professional development for educators, and parent engagement materials.
Project STAR was three-year, federally funded research project which consisted of an intervention with preschoolers enrolled in the Head Start program in Lane County, Oregon, United States. The project was conducted from 1999 to 2003 by the Early Childhood Research Unit of the University of Oregon College of Education. The principal investigators were Dr. Ruth Kaminski, one of the co-authors of the DIBELS early literacy assessment, and Beth Stormshak. The goal of the program was to increase literacy skills of at-risk children by improving their learning environments by increasing the number of planned and focused activities. The curriculum had two components: a classroom ecology component and family-focused intervention activities. The intervention was focused on strengthening children's skills in social ability. In order to help children they increased parenting and family participation in school by working directly with the parents of the students.
Family literacy is a method of education. Relatively new, family literacy is being put into practice in the United States, Canada, and South Africa.
Universal preschool is an international movement to use public funding to ensure high quality preschool (pre-k) is available to all families. Schools rate their education systems on academic performance of their students and compare them to schools nationwide as well as globally. Introducing a universal preschool program holds the ideal of allowing young children of different socioeconomic backgrounds to build and improve their academic and social skills to better prepare them for kindergarten and beyond. Additionally, the introduction of universal preschool may ideally allow for many financially struggling families to send their children to preschool, potentially encouraging more women to enter or re-enter the workforce.
Early childhood intervention (ECI) is a support and educational system for very young children who have been victims of, or who are at high risk for child abuse and/or neglect as well as children who have developmental delays or disabilities. Some states and regions have chosen to focus these services on children with developmental disabilities or delays, but Early Childhood Intervention is not limited to children with these disabilities.
Special education in the United States enables students with exceptional learning needs to access resources through special education programs. These programs did not always exist. "The idea of excluding students with any disability from public school education can be traced back to 1893, when the Massachusetts Supreme Court expelled a student merely due to poor academic ability". This exclusion would be the basis of education for all individuals with special needs for years to come. In 1954, Brown v. Board of Education sparked the belief that the right to a public education applies to all individuals regardless of race, gender, or disability. Finally, special education programs in the United States were made mandatory in 1975 when the United States Congress passed the Education for All Handicapped Children Act (EAHCA) "(sometimes referred to using the acronyms EAHCA or EHA, or Public Law 94-142) was enacted by the United States Congress in 1975, in response to discriminatory treatment by public educational agencies against students with disabilities." The EAHCA was later modified to strengthen protections to students with disabilities and renamed the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). IDEA requires states to provide special education and related services consistent with federal standards as a condition of receiving federal funds.
Music education for young children is an educational program introducing children in a playful manner to singing, speech, music, motion and organology. It is a subarea of music education.
The South San Francisco Public Library is located in South San Francisco, California, California. It is an independent city library and part of the Peninsula Library System, a consortium of city, county, and community college libraries in San Mateo County. The library holds approximately 166,000 volumes and has 29,000 borrowers. In the fiscal year 2007-2008, the library circulated 687,000 items. The library provides access to homebound delivery services, numerous children's programs, a literacy program, a community learning center, 77 public computers, and free Wi-Fi.
The Child Development Associate (CDA) Credential is the most widely recognized credential in early childhood education (ECE) in the U.S. The credential is awarded by the Council for Professional Recognition. To earn a CDA, applicants must demonstrate their competency in areas which support the healthy growth and development of children, both in center-based care, and in home visiting programs.
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."
Family resource programs (FRP) are Canadian community-based organizations that intend to support families in a variety of ways through systems such as family resource centers, family places, family centers, and neighborhood houses. They can also be linked to schools, community centers, child care programs, women's centers, and native friendship centers. This includes programs such as Ontario Early Years and military-funded family centers. They are generally grassroots organizations that aim to be responsive to local issues.
LENA is a developer of advanced technology and programs to accelerate language development of children 0-3 and to close opportunity gaps.
Qingdao Amerasia International School(QAIS) is a private, non-profit international school located in Qingdao, China, offering Montessori education from ages 1.5-5 and an inquiry-based curriculum up to age 18. QAIS has over 200 enrolled students representing 25 countries. Qingdao Amerasia International School is an International Baccalaureate World School, offering the full IB Continuum: the IB Primary Years Programme, IB Middle Years Programme, and IB Diploma Programme. Their Montessori Toddler and Montessori Early Childhood Programs are the only programs in Asia to be accredited by the American Montessori Society.
Child Care Licensing in North Carolina has been regulated by state statute since 1971. The current system uses a 5-star rating system that awards points based on programming quality. The more points, the higher the rating and thus, the more 'stars' issued. If someone is providing child care of more than two children who are not related to them for more than four hours per day, the provider needs to be licensed by the State.
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.
