Preschool's Benefits Linger Into Adulthood, Study Finds

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cheap nfl jerseys sale of AK 12:04AM May 13, 2013

While it is helpful to read a longitudinal study that tracks a significant number of children into adulthood and controls for preschool attendance, there are also many challenges associated with ensuring its accuracy. For example, how does the study control for effects of the many other variables that impact adult achievement?
Also, there may be many reasons for the positive results. It could be as simple as the curriculum emphasis on language development and literacy skills. Research has shown that early literacy skills are an important determinant of future reading success. Reading success is correlated to school success, which is correlated to adult success.
In any instance, there are many benefits to longitudinal studies like this that look at education development over time. For starters they help educators and parents plot the trajectory of students and discover patterns that promote student achievement and lead to adult success.
~Jane M. Bailey, Dean
School of Education
Post University
http://blog.post.edu

Jane Bailey of CT 9:36AM June 27, 2011

I am certain that there are plenty of benefits for children who attend preschool. However, I am dubious about the suggestion that the most significant difference between the two groups is what the lucky ones experienced in preschool.
It seems likely that the long term benefits for the preschool students in the study are largely attributable to the fact that they were living with parents who were motivated to go to the trouble to see that their children were well-raised. Such parents are more likely to produce children who become successful academically and socially than are parents who do not care enough to do what is necessary to provide opportunities like preschool. Children raised in caring households are more likely to succeed even if they never see the inside of a preschool.
Each child experiences about 44,000 hours between birth and the first day of kindergarten. Achievement gaps are well established far before school (or preschool) begins. They are created by surrounding preschoolers with adults who do not care for them, who do not respect them and who do not teach and demonstrate for them the principles, the habits and the expectations that are necessary for a child to become a successful adult. The 14,000 hours of available formal academic training from kindergarten through 12th grade cannot repair the damage done to children who are “unraised” before formal schooling begins.
The success of the children in the study can be attributed to the high quality of the parenting they have experienced. Unfortunately, I suspect that the opposite is equally accurate. Many children who must endure childhood with inadequate parents become education-resistant. Some become education-proof. Schools are not where children fail. Schools are where the results of parental failure become noticeable.
Congratulations to the parents of the children in the study who attended preschool. Your efforts are showing and they will continue to show. You should swell with pride when you think of your children’s success. They could not have done it without you.

Rob Bligh of NE 4:02PM June 10, 2011

For those who question the effectiveness of overall government spending on such programs, consider this: If even half the children in a structured preschool program with certified teachers become better educated as a result, then their children are less likely to need the program themselves. In just a few generations, there would be no need for the programs at all because all parents would be educated, insured and able to appropriately teach their children the skills needed to succeed.
As a parent whose child attended a developmental preschool for 2 and 1/2 years, I personally vouch for the difference it is making in my now elementary-aged child. As a developmental special instructor, I work with children 3 and younger, and the impact that early intervention has on these children is significant. A child who starts kindergarten behind his peers will be hard-pressed to keep up. By the time schools are allowed to intervene, the child is likely in to 3rd grade and possibly already lost in his/her education because of starting out behind.
More studies will be needed to quiet those who remain skeptical, but this validates the hours and hours of hard work that the preschool teachers I know put into developing little people into successful big people.

AZKomet2011 of AZ 11:41PM June 09, 2011