The mission statement of this organization states that the organization aims to:
1.) Provide a vision of early childhood education excellence in terms that are usable by policy makers and are understandable to the general public
2.) Monitor and evaluate national and state progress toward early educational excellence
3.) Develop and analyze model legislation, standards, and other regulation policies required to improve quality and increase access to good preschool programs
4.) Explain the cost, outcomes and economic benefits of alternative policies
Web site link http://nieer.org
In reading the January 2013 Preschool... Matters Today! newsletter from the NIEER one issue that caught my attention was the issue on poverty and how access to public preschool programs could be a solution to reaching children who are in poverty so they will be better prepared to succeed in school.One interesting piece of information that the NIEER shared was how the research has now shown that Head Start programs are "not meeting their goals" (NIEER, Jan 2013) The NIEER states
"It is now clear: Head Start produces no perceptible lasting gains in any domain
of child development. This does not rule out very small persistent gains, but
Head Start is not meeting its goals. Yet, much of the field seems to be in
denial, responding that bad public schools erode the effects of Head Start.
Somehow they fail to see that even initial gains are quite small and that
children in the study made much larger gains in kindergarten and the early
grades than they did in Head Start. Other studies confirm that learning gains in
kindergarten are much larger than in Head Start. The root of the problem is that
Head Start is locked into a program model that fails to focus on intensive
education and pays teaching staff abysmally" (NIEER, Jan 2013).
To read full newsletter visit http://preschoolmatters.org (Article title: Not Just Wishful Thinking, 1/10/2013)
I drive by at least 2-3 Head Start Programs on a weekly basis and every morning I see the parents and children that walk to child care in areas that lack programs such as the Head Start Program. The strive the program focuses on implementing of the program educational success and the long term benefits policymakers and advocates are aiming for.
ReplyDeleteThey take so much from head start now days. Teachers can only teach so much and it limit of things they can't do to help students learn. So that's why it's very important that there are parental involvement in all schools not just head start. So when parents are involved they continue to implement what is being taught at school but the parents can go beyond.
ReplyDeleteHead Start needs to look at how they have their curriculum set up for the children. They do not give the teachers enough time to really teach the children and make sure they have it. Head Start could really be a good program but they need to make a lot of major changes and give the teachers more teaching time and the children less play time.
ReplyDelete