Question

Now imagine you have been hired as an educational consultant to the president of the United States. What policy would you recommend to the federal government concerning preschool education? What children should be targeted How much government involvement should there be? Who will bear the cost of these programs?

Answer 1

Scientists have discovered that the most rapid period of brain development occurs in the first few years of life. During this time the basic architecture of the brain is being constructed through an ongoing process that begins at birth and continues into adulthood.

Hence the below policies should be implemented:

1. child care subsidies:

state child care subsidy programs should be both a support for low-income working families to assist with the high cost of child care and an opportunity to provide quality environments that support optimal early development and learning, as well as promote school readiness.

2. state prekindergarten programs:

State legislatures should recognize the important role pre-K programs play in promoting school readiness, especially for children who experience numerous risk factors. State legislatures should create and fund new programs, improved teacher qualifications and enhanced school readiness assessments and program quality standards.

3. state home visiting programs:

Home visiting is a voluntary, home-based prevention strategy used to support pregnant mothers and new parents to promote infant and child health, foster healthy child development, improve school readiness and family self-sufficiency. Services are most often delivered by trained nurses, social workers or child development specialists.

4. financing strategies and governance structures to better coordinate programs that serve young children:

states have to develop governance structures to better coordinate programs that serve young children. This can include coordination of programs (i.e., memorandum of understanding-MOUs), consolidation of programs (i.e., office of child development) or the creation of a new government structure (i.e., department of early learning).

5. Early Childhood Data Systems:

Data are a vital resource in state efforts to reduce the school readiness gap and bolster educational achievement for all children. States often struggle, however, to obtain data across programs that will enable them to answer even basic questions about their state’s public early care and education system or children’s early learning experiences.

6. Financing Strategies:

State legislators make fiscal decisions to fund early care and education services, including child care, prekindergarten, home visiting and other related programs through the use of federal, state and local funding sources.

7. Dual Language Learners (DLLs)

U.S. are undergoing a dramatic shift related to race and ethnicity. This shift is being experienced across the age spectrum hence children should acquire two or more languages simultaneously, learning a second language while continuing to develop their first language.

All of the above should be funded by the government