National studies have shown those who receive a high-quality early education do better in school and lead more successful lives

By DEBRA CANO RAMOS, Special Advertising Sections Writer

As a teacher and a mother, Nancy Linaweaver knows that prekindergarten is good for young children.

When choosing a school for her own 4-year-old son, she wanted a safe and loving environment. Most importantly, she wanted a school where he would feel comfortable and be happy.

Linaweaver and her husband want their son to go to college, and believe that preschool is a stepping stone in that direction. “Do I believe that the preschool will get him into college?

No. It is more our responsibility to be sure he respects the learning process so he eventually learns what he needs to get into a college 14 or 15 years down the road,” said Linaweaver. Her son attends St. Margaret‘s Episcopal School in San Juan Capistrano.

“We feel the love of learning he gets in preschool will begin to instill in him the thirst for knowledge, and therefore, allow him to eventually develop the proper study habits to succeed in classes and later in college.”

Education experts say that the period between being 3 and 4 years old is a critical time for stimulating language development, socialization and academic knowledge, such as counting, understanding the letters of the alphabet and recognizing shapes and more. National studies have shown those who receive a highquality early education do better in school and lead more successful lives.

“We know that if a child is more prepared for school, he or she will do better in elementary school and high school and [is] more likely to continue his or her education,” said Jeanne Brooks-Gunn, co-director of the National Center for Children and Families, Teachers College at Columbia University in New York.

“It’s simple logic: If we don’t bring children to the starting gate fully prepared for the race, they’re going to run behind,” added Brooks-Gunn, a developmental psychologist. “In those critical early years of human development when your children develop a sense of themselves, providing well-thought-out childcentered learning in a supportive environment is the soundest long-term investment a society can make.”

For parents looking for a preschool that will prepare their child for the academic years ahead, including college, how do they choose a school that will guide them on that path to success?

Thinking about college

“If a love of school and learning is instilled in a child early, they will most likely continue in school and excel,” said Stephanie Rubin, state program director for Pre-K Now, an advocacy and public education organization in Washington, D.C. “A high-quality pre-K program encourages them to enjoy school and makes them more confident, so it’s more likely they’ll want to attend college.”

Pre-K Now’s mission is to collaborate with advocates and policy- makers to lead a movement for high-quality, voluntary prekindergartner programs for the nation’s 3- and 4-year-olds, Rubin said.

Gisele Ragusa, assistant professor and chairperson of the educational psychology department at USC’s Rossier School of Education, said that the type of preschool parents choose matters greatly, but not so much as it pertains to college entrance due to the many socio-cultural variables.

“That is taking too much of a leap academically.

It is important to think of preschools as the door to the future as they provide the beginnings of a 12- to 18-year journey through academia,” she said.

Classrooms that offer a nurturing and stimulating environment where children explore and develop skills through activities and play, and where they learn how to interact with others, also are part of a quality program, experts agreed.

“This primarily provides an entree for young learners as they begin academic processes, but does not in any way ensure college success,” Ragusa said. “Context, peer influence and longterm sustained academic success all come into play when considering college entrance.”

Overall, experts agree that all children can benefit from a quality early childhood education. But, what does a quality program mean?

Research has shown that a high-quality program has some specific fundamentals, such as the education level of its teachers, teacher-child ratios and class size, and parent involvement in the child‘s education and school, Brooks-Gunn said.

Teachers should have specific training in early childhood education, and having a teaching staff with four-year college degrees is a big plus for the children. Educated teachers are more likely to talk with the children, to value reading and literacy and to have taken courses and learned about childhood development, Brooks- Gunn added.

Rubin also said that fewer students in a classroom is important for learning and that Pre-K Now recommends one teacher for every 10 students in a pre-kindergarten class.

Children in classrooms with too many students do not receive enough individualized or positive attention with the teacher, she added.

In the long-term, Brooks-Gunn believes that all 4-year-olds will one day have access to a prekindergarten program. Some states are already moving toward so-called “universal preschool.”

Georgia, Oklahoma and Florida, for example, have preschool programs available to all 4-year-olds. Pre-K Now’s goal is to have quality programs in every state so that every child who enters kindergarten is prepared to succeed, Rubin said.

In California, a coalition of education, business and labor leaders has joined children’s advocate Rob Reiner to gather signatures for a June 2006 ballot initiative.

The initiative would offer publicly funded, quality preschool programs to 4- year-olds whose parents choose to enroll them, according to Preschool California, an advocacy campaign to achieve voluntary preschool for all 4-year-olds in the state.

For Linaweaver, the simple logic for parents is to find a program that inspires a lifelong love of learning and gives the child a solid foundation for kindergarten. Parents should also consider the personality and needs of their child, and then, base a decision on that knowledge, she said.

“A person should consider a preschool that nurtures the child and has the same goals that you do for your child.”

For parent information, visit www.preknow.org or www.naeyc.org/families.

Debra Cano Ramos is a freelance writer based in Orange.

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