What to
Look for in a Preschool
by Naomi Karp, National
Institute on Early Childhood Development and Education
Every year families are
faced with a big decision: where should their young children go
to preschool? To decide, families need to be informed consumers.
The most important thing
to remember is that a high-quality preschool program has long-term
effects on young children's success in school and, perhaps, even
later in life. Two key features of a high-quality preschool program
are the teachers or caregivers and what is happening in the classroom
environment. When evaluating a preschool class for your child, keep
these things in mind:
Teachers or caregivers
- Adults who spend their
days with young children must be responsive to each child's abilities,
needs, language differences and overall development. Perhaps the
single most important characteristic of a high-quality preschool
is a teacher's relationship with the children in his or her class
and the ability to be responsive to each child.
- Teachers have to talk
to children--a lot. They should have interesting conversations
with one child at a time; with small groups of children; and with
the whole group. Make sure the adults are not only talking to
other adults.
- A child's spoken vocabulary
is one of the best ways to predict how well that child will read.
The size of a child's vocabulary depends directly on how many
words he or she has heard, beginning in infancy. It is up to teacher
to make sure that children hear lots of words and take part in
rich conversations every day.
- Teachers should know
about child development and how young children learn about the
alphabet and number concepts. They also have to know about the
children's social and emotional development. For the most part,
teachers with early childhood college preparation are well-qualified
teachers.
- Because most early
childhood educators are not paid very well, they tend not to stay
in the professions very long. However, in a high-quality preschool,
the average stay of teachers is longer, which fosters a sense
of security and stability in the children.
The Environment
- Indoor and outdoor
activities should develop all the child's skills. That means,
every day, children should be doing things that develop their
language, mathematics and problem-solving skills. They also need
activities that build their social and emotional development.
They should have opportunities for painting or coloring, singing,
dancing, jumping, running and climbing. These activities all help
build the skills needed to do well in kindergarten and elementary
school. The adults should be engaged with and talking to the children.
- There should be lots
of children's books and printed materials in the classroom. Teachers
should read to the children for at least 30 minutes every day.
The children should sit near the teacher, and the teacher should
ask the children to predict what will happen next in the story,
to find certain objects in a picture, to count objects in pictures,
and to do other things that engage the children in conversations
about the story. Even if the children are too young to talk, they
should be read to every day.
- The room should be
decorated with the children's recent artwork. (If it's January,
the Halloween pictures should not still be on the walls). The
alphabet should be on display where the children can see it. Number
lines also should be visible. Children's names should be printed
on paper and easily visible. Items in the room should be labeled
so that children associate objects and the printed words that
represent them.
- The preschool should
use a curriculum or a set of educational activities that blend
together opportunities for children to experience language, science,
mathematics, physical education, art and music experiences every
day. The activities should be well planned and help children develop
the ideas, concepts and skills needed for kindergarten and elementary
school.
- Small classes allow
more opportunities for young children to explore the environment,
more time for teacher-child interactions, and more time for teachers
to devote to individual children's special needs and abilities.
