One thing I found particularly interesting on this website is all the research they do. There is a section called Projects and in this area I found an article called Proof into Policy: Pre-K milestones and here they have data about how much funding has increased in the past 7 years. I am happy to say Oklahoma is one that is on the higher end of funding. When I look at Texas, this really makes me happy! They are wayyy higher than everyone else. What a great state! I've heard a lot of good things about Texas schools, but I didn't know they were the highest funded state. There were 10 states that do not have state pre-k programs. Wow! I couldn't imagine our school without a pre-k program. State funding for pre-k more than doubled nationwide from 2002-2010. 27% of all 4 year olds are in state funded pre-k programs. It is obvious that this trend in early childhood will continue to rise as it has doubled in the past 8 years. People are finally realizing how important early childhood programs are for children. Once again, even in these articles I found that we are striving for preparing children for the future. Although I feel this program has nothing to do with being against play, but I feel they are focusing on the future and not the "now." I think children or adults shouldn't even worry about the future until the children are at least in mid or high school. We must do our jobs as teachers to teach the children what they need to know and expect every other teacher between now and high school to do the same. As long as we do that, I think the child will be alright.
This website is very informative, but I have a hard time finding stuff I am looking for. And I'm really confused about what I'm actually reading. I guess there are several different things they are looking at and not just early childhood. When I finally find the early childhood section of it, there are some very interesting things to see and research being done. This is a great website with quite a bit of information but just a little bit too much information for me.
Great post!
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your post. I was not aware that Texas was a highly funded state. It is good to see that some states believe in the progress of children.
I am on the fence in regards to preschool, I believe preschool with high quality care gives a much needed foundation in the lives of children. On the other hand, I believe that children should not be in school at such young ages. I am a preschool teacher and I love my job. It is just hard to see the children cry sometimes becuase they want their parents and they are only 3 and 4 years old. I wonder how children would be if there was no preschool. Thank you for your post.
This is very interesting information that you have provided through you blog. Thank you for making me aware of Pre-K funding in Oklahoma and Texas, whereas this seems to be an issue here in the state of Georgia. We have very limited Pre-K programs here in Georgia that are affordable for parents and families. I will be glad when the Early Childhood Initiative that President Obama is putting into action takes place because this will mean more funding allocated to the early childhood field that will raise the stakes of high-quality education for all children across the nation. By the way, I love the title of you blog, "We Plant the Seed, Everyone Else Waters Them"... absolutely awesome!
ReplyDeleteShanda,
ReplyDeleteGreat blog and great information. I am an Oklahoman girl, born in Kansas and raised in northern Oklahoma by the Kansas boarder. I never went to pre-k but all three of my children did, funny thing is they went to pre-k programs in different states. My daughter got to go to a pre-k program within a school system but not the school she would be attending elementary school in. That school did not have a pre-k program yet. One of my sons did get to go to pre-k in Oklahoma for a few months while we waited on a house in Virginia. They started the pre-k program in Oklahoma about ten or eleven years ago. It was sort of a pilot program to see if it made a difference for other states to follow. I do believe though that Kindergarten was moved to half-days and the pre-k program took the other half of the day. It worked and more states are following suit. It is hard to see schools not having pre-k, but where I live now we do not. Some counties are implementing pre-k and with the new grant MIssissippi received there wil be a lot more pre-k programs in our schools. I work at Head Start and we have 7 centers in our county, can't wait for pre-k in schools so we can assist all the children. Great post,Melissa