Jennifer Hayes, Director

The Importance of Preschool 

By deciding to enroll your children in a preschool program you have a made a decision that will have far-reaching effects on their school career.  Research has shown that early childhood programs play a crucial role in children’s future success. 

Children who attend preschool as three and four year olds are more likely to do well academically and socially throughout the rest of their schooling and later as adults.  Children who attend preschool are less likely to be placed in Special Education classes, drop out of school, or have problems with law enforcement.  As adults they are more likely to attend college and hold jobs. 

Recent brain research tells us that the period between birth and age six is a crucial time in brain development.  The connections the brain makes during these early years take place because of the experiential opportunities that children have.  A stimulating environment and positive learning experience will have a powerful effect on young children’s later performance in school and as adults. 

Before children enter kindergarten much of their potential for learning and healthy growth has been shaped – in some cases it has already been diminished.  Education in early childhood is a fundamental building block on which higher learning is based.  Birth to age five is a critically important time to shape a child’s capacity and enthusiasm for learning. 

What a child experiences before kindergarten is far more important than we ever imagined to not only their future success in school but their social/emotional growth and to their success as a productive member of society.  The positive experiences in the early years through interactions with others and the development of language create the foundation for a child’s life-long thinking, attitudes, and behavior

Jennifer Hayes,
Director, Early Childhood Education

 

References – Dr. Lilian Katz & Ready to Learn:  Quality Preschools for California in the 21st Century, The Report of the Superintendent’s Universal Preschool Task Force, California Department of Education, Sacramento, 1998.

 

 

 
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