Early Childhood Education Makes a Difference in the Academic Success of At-Risk Children It is essential for our society to recognize the importance of early childhood education and how it affects a person’s life. Early childhood education is not “babysitting,” it is a powerful tool needed to guarantee a child’s academic success. The development acquired during a child’s preschool years set a foundation for their future. At-risk children are in jeopardy of achieving such great success due to their unstable home lives. By the time children from disadvantaged backgrounds enter kindergarten, they already lag far behind in their development and the possibility of them catching up is very slim. Providing early intervention to economically
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A positive learning atmosphere is one that ensures students feel safe, comfortable, nurtured, and independent (Estes & Krogh 2012). These two influences go hand in hand with what an at-risk child needs to ensure that they gain as much knowledge and confidence as possible before they being school. Research done by IES, suggested that participating in higher-quality classroom environments did in fact improve learning outcomes for young children because they experiences an optimal classroom. An optimal classroom is one that creates peer learning. The process of peer learning is to allow disadvantaged children to learn from children with advanced skills (Diamond, Justice, Siegler, Snyder, & National Center for Special Education Research 2013). These associations are due to high-quality childcare centers allowing their students to interact with each other through the experience of multiple interest areas. The 11 interest areas that should be available in a high-quality preschool are: art, blocks, computers, cooking, discovery, dramatic play, library, music and movement, outdoors, sand and water, and toys and games (Estes & Krogh 2012). This type of “play” helps to develop the foundation of learning by doing and involves child-directed activities that enhance problem solving skills. The children are allowed to pick areas they are interested …show more content…
There needs to be efforts made to eliminate the negative reputation early childhood education has obtained. Training and awareness needs to be made available for families of young children to utilize in order to establish a new and improved positive image. Parents need to understand that early childhood education is an investment in their child’s future, just the same as sending their children off to college. Our culture seems to have education backwards. If we want well educated college graduates to be contributors in our society we can’t wait until they are approaching college to get devoted to their education. Education is a flame that needs to be ignited early in a child life. It is imperative for educators, families, and communities to work together in order to give every child a successful
A positive learning atmosphere is one that ensures students feel safe, comfortable, nurtured, and independent (Estes & Krogh 2012). These two influences go hand in hand with what an at-risk child needs to ensure that they gain as much knowledge and confidence as possible before they being school. Research done by IES, suggested that participating in higher-quality classroom environments did in fact improve learning outcomes for young children because they experiences an optimal classroom. An optimal classroom is one that creates peer learning. The process of peer learning is to allow disadvantaged children to learn from children with advanced skills (Diamond, Justice, Siegler, Snyder, & National Center for Special Education Research 2013). These associations are due to high-quality childcare centers allowing their students to interact with each other through the experience of multiple interest areas. The 11 interest areas that should be available in a high-quality preschool are: art, blocks, computers, cooking, discovery, dramatic play, library, music and movement, outdoors, sand and water, and toys and games (Estes & Krogh 2012). This type of “play” helps to develop the foundation of learning by doing and involves child-directed activities that enhance problem solving skills. The children are allowed to pick areas they are interested …show more content…
There needs to be efforts made to eliminate the negative reputation early childhood education has obtained. Training and awareness needs to be made available for families of young children to utilize in order to establish a new and improved positive image. Parents need to understand that early childhood education is an investment in their child’s future, just the same as sending their children off to college. Our culture seems to have education backwards. If we want well educated college graduates to be contributors in our society we can’t wait until they are approaching college to get devoted to their education. Education is a flame that needs to be ignited early in a child life. It is imperative for educators, families, and communities to work together in order to give every child a successful