Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Contributors
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- 1 The Universal Preschool Movement
- 2 School Readiness: Defining the Goal for Universal Preschool
- 3 Economic Returns of Investments in Preschool Education
- 4 The Need for Universal Prekindergarten for Children in Poverty
- 5 The Need for Universal Preschool Access for Children Not Living in Poverty
- 6 Program Quality, Intensity, and Duration in Preschool Education
- 7 A Whole Child Approach: The Importance of Social and Emotional Development
- 8 Parent Involvement in Preschool
- 9 Professional Development Issues in Universal Prekindergarten
- 10 What the School of the 21st Century Can Teach Us about Universal Preschool
- 11 A Place for Head Start in a World of Universal Preschool
- 12 A Model Universal Prekindergarten Program
- Summary and Recommendations
- Index
- References
10 - What the School of the 21st Century Can Teach Us about Universal Preschool
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Contributors
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- 1 The Universal Preschool Movement
- 2 School Readiness: Defining the Goal for Universal Preschool
- 3 Economic Returns of Investments in Preschool Education
- 4 The Need for Universal Prekindergarten for Children in Poverty
- 5 The Need for Universal Preschool Access for Children Not Living in Poverty
- 6 Program Quality, Intensity, and Duration in Preschool Education
- 7 A Whole Child Approach: The Importance of Social and Emotional Development
- 8 Parent Involvement in Preschool
- 9 Professional Development Issues in Universal Prekindergarten
- 10 What the School of the 21st Century Can Teach Us about Universal Preschool
- 11 A Place for Head Start in a World of Universal Preschool
- 12 A Model Universal Prekindergarten Program
- Summary and Recommendations
- Index
- References
Summary
A long-standing problem in the early childhood field is that there is no cohesive delivery system in place for preschool and child care services. Rather, we have a mix of fragmented services, some providing part-day preschool to four-year-olds, others providing all-day, year-round child care for children whose parents are working. Multiple funding streams support the programs, and a variety of institutional contexts exists – public schools, nonprofit and for-profit centers, churches, and community-based organizations – as well as licensed and unlicensed individual child care providers. Of significance is the general lack of quality that characterizes this nonsystem. Hence large numbers of preschool children attend programs that are of poor or mediocre quality, which has consequences for their healthy growth and development as well as their school readiness.
Universal preschool has the potential to create a better and more equitable early care and education system. Many issues have to be addressed about the governance, structure, and scope of a proposed system. In this chapter we discuss our experiences with the development and implementation of a universal school-based program known as the School of the 21st Century (21C). In some communities in Kentucky and Connecticut, the program is referred to as the Family Resource Center. 21C is a comprehensive program that includes, in addition to other components, universally accessible child care for preschoolers.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- A Vision for Universal Preschool Education , pp. 194 - 215Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2006
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