Every parent wants to make sure they are giving their child the best and education is no different. Parents want to make sure that they enroll their child in a good program. Between Head Start and pre-kindergarten programs there is a difference. Head Start is funded by the federal government and provides free of charge tuition to low-income families who have 3-5 year old children. Preschools prices may vary. Some preschools are hosted by churches and that can help lower some of the price while other places can be exclusive and expensive. The curriculum for Head Start is followed by federally mandated program that focuses on preparing children to succeed in kindergarten. Curriculums in preschool can range from no courses to teaching young
children how to read. Preschools tend to be a mixture of play, learning, and socializing with other children. The teachers at Head Start must have two year degrees in early child hood education. For preschool it depends on the program. If it is a private preschool then teachers are not required by law to hire someone with a degree. Therefore, the education that is given can vary on how well the teacher is. Some other things to think about are Head Start is designed to help families. They give evaluations to children and look for learning and physical delays or disabilities. Head Start also gives free vision, speech, hearing checks, and dental checks. If they feel your child may need extra help like therapy then they will help give you what you need. Finally, Head Start encourages parents to volunteer and works on educating the parents. Many programs work to educate parents on offer parenting, nutrition, or other classes free of charge. Preschools do not usually offer services, but depending on the place they may give parents a discount if they volunteer.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt once said:“We cannot always build the future for our youth, but we can build our youth for the future.” Mr. Roosevelt was indicating that education is key to ensuring a positive future for our country. Years have passed since his presidency, and many can argue that America’s educational system has improved, but that still remains to be seen. While it is true that education has gotten more focus in recent years, as highlighted by the “No Child Left Behind Act,” it does not mean that the system is fully developed enough to aid all of America’s children. Now, the average American is just that: average. Children generally receive B’s and C’s, average grades, in school if they are lucky enough to be in a good school system. Literacy rates are lower than they seem, and not enough people are properly motivated to do well in school. Forms of entertainment and parental influence, which also play a large role in the development of children into successful, productive adults, are not where they should be with respects to education. Much more needs to be done to improve the educational system of the entire country. Preschool should be made mandatory to help individuals reach their full potential and achieve what only a minority of today’s society is currently capable of.
My first observation was at Head Start. I talked to Tracey Claflin about some of the principles they use in their program and how they use them. I wasn’t able to observe the children directly because my TB skin test results came up positive. Tracey explained to me that because my results were positive I couldn’t meet children or be in the same room as the children. Due to this, I had to make some arrangements to instead speak with Tracey about some principles she has seen and that they follow. I met with her for an hour discussing the principles and how they were used in the Head Start program. One of the principles she said was highly important for Head Start was principle number 2. She explained that when there is enough time and opportunities to spend time with a child individually the caregiver puts full attention on one child. She explained that they like to focus attention on a child throughout the day so that the child doesn’t feel left out. She says that alone time for a child with a caregiver is usually tummy time. They allow the infants and toddlers to roll around and look at the carpet designs. Tracey explained to me how they asses each child through this quality time that the caregiver and the child have alone. This quality time the caregiver has with the child is important,
The Head Start Program, typically referred to solely as Head Start, is offered by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The program was inaugurated in 1964 as a means of preparing children from low-income families to enter kindergarten with a higher level of preparation (Gillette, 2010). Head Start is funded through the Head Start Act of 1981, which was reauthorized in 2007. Head Start has a budget of over $7 billion and has its own teachers and aides (Banner, 2011).
Another factor parents may not look into when finding a preschool is the curriculum that will be taught. “Despite decades of federal, state, and local programs intended to support young children’s preparation for schooling, children from low-income families continue to begin formal schooling at a disadvant...
The Head Start program is extremely beneficial to communities across the United States of America. The program set goals, continues to accomplish them, remedies educational setbacks for low-income families and children and raises debates about the success of such programs which only pushes them to strive harder to reach their goals.
In the 1980s, child care was back on the national agenda due to the education reform movement (Tejada, 2010). Tejada further disclosed that several states even launched pre-kindergarten programs for disadvantaged children. Why the Need for Universal Preschool Two-thirds of 4-year-old children in the United States attend preschool, as well as 40% of 3-year-olds (Tejada, 2010). Half of those are enrolled in a public program, such as state prekindergarten (preK), Head Start, or special education, and the other half are in a private program (Adams, 2009). Despite such a large enrollment of children in these programs, there is still a handful of children who are missing out on obtaining a head start in obtaining a good quality education.... ...
The Head Start program was created to address this shortcoming that some children face and to catch them up with their more advantaged peers. (Garces, 2002, p. 999) Head Start was originally designed to provide a nurturing environment that would provide children with preschool education, positive social interaction, and nutritious snacks and meals to help compensate for the lack of those things in the children’s lives.
In January of 1964 Lyndon B. Johnson declared “war on poverty” in a state of the union speech. His dream for a better America came with the greatest prosperity of the post war years. The nations GNP was up, unemployment was down and disposable personal income was at an all-time high. As the baby boom generation aged more American’s than ever would enter the work force and it was imperative that the county develop some a plan for its growing nation. As part of Johnsons war on poverty he create the idea of a “great society” in which ground rules where laid out for programs that the president was sure would help the nation. Johnsons first ever reference to the great society came in a speech directed toward students at the Ohio University in Athens where he proudly boasted “and with your courage and with your compassion and your desire, we will build the great society where no child will go unfed, and no youngster will go unschooled”. Johnson was dedicated to this ideal of a new society, together with Sargent Shriver, he worked on developing a committee of civil rights activist. He also arraigned a team of sociologist, psychologist and pediatricians including pediatrician Dr. Robert Cooke of John Hopkins University. Johnson and his crew worked rigorously to develop a program to help America’s children overcome the obstacle of poverty. The name head start was chosen as a representation of the gap that is ever present between middle class and lower class children academically and the ideal that this program would give underprivileged children a much needed head start on education and over all wellbeing.
There are a few types of preschool programs. First there are structured preschool programs that focus on emphasizing an actual school setting and classroom activities in order to prepare the child for kindergarten or first grade. There are also day care centers, which are not as structured as preschool centers. Daycare’s focus mainly on child’s development through social interaction with children and caregivers. Then there are head start programs that are geared to give children a foot in the right direction in order to be ready for preschool or kindergarten. The right kind of childcare can be a wonderful opportunity to promote the profound learning children experience from birth through age five (Selecting child care, 2002).
Preschool isn't just a place for parents to drop off their children while they are at work for the day. It is in preschool where children learn the necessary skills needed to succeed in school and in life. With high-quality preschools and qualified teachers the possibilities are endless. It's not only the children who reap the benefits of Early Childhood Education; their parents, fellow peers, and even society feel the positive effects of quality preschool programs. Children enrolled in quality preschool programs are more likely to succeed academically and socially when they are older.
While walking through the front gates of County elementary school, you see children of all ages playing while they wait for the school bell to ring. Walking to the classroom that I will be observing you see students with their parent’s line up waiting to get signed in. The students are to be signed in by a parent or guardian for safety precautions, and shows that the child was signed into school. As a visitor, I am to sign myself in, this shows I was in the classroom, at what time was I there, and reason for visiting the classroom.
Preschool programs began in the United States during the first quarter of the twentieth century with the first public preschool opening in 1925 in Chicago at Franklin School. After the 1970s the popularity of preschools increased as women were entering the workforce and people believed that children needed initial skills before they attended elementary school. (“All About Preschools, History…”2).
Entering my kindergarten teaching experience in the last quarter of school year I had to quickly become familiar with kindergarten content standards and the school’s curriculum. To do this I observed my mentor teachers instructional time with the children and gained as much information as I could about the children’s educational standing by developing a professional relationship with the my mentor teacher and the children. I learned that the majority of my kindergarten children had not previously attended preschool and that this was their first year of school. I found that interacting with the children in social activities provided me with great insight to their literacy, math, science, and social studies development. In reviewing the children’s class projects, school displays, and an array of their work sample along with my mentor teachers year-long assessments I was able to recognize challenging, emerging and advanced content areas of the children’s core curriculum. These emerging and challenging content areas is what I centered my curriculum planning around. “Information about each child’s learning and development is used to evaluate teaching effectiveness. This may lead to changes in schedule, curriculum and teaching strategies, room set up, resources, and so on.” (Bredekamp and Copple, p. 249)
Head Start provides free education and health services to young children who come from economically
Programme planning is a vital sector in diverse early childhood education (ECE) service to provide quality education and care for young children. There are many ways we could plan things. The planning will link to the document of desirable of objectives (DOPs), Te Whariki and the licensing criteria which provide by the government. Planning in ECE cycle has no beginning and no end; it is a continued cycle day after day, week after week and year after year. Play is basic element to learn and develop in child’s life.