Education News – Grace Smith
“The Center for American Progress, a nonpartisan policy organization that is aimed at improving Americans’ lives…says that providing early childhood education programs ensures that students will enter kindergarten with a solid academic foundation…The authors explain that the elements of “quality” in early learning are not uniformly agreed upon by educators. But they attempt to define it generally as a program that hires teachers with strong educational backgrounds in child development. They also have found that effective programs use research-based curricula that meet the needs of the whole child. Quality programs also employ teachers who engage children in well-planned, warm, and intellectually stimulating interactions. Additionally, class sizes are small, and the classroom has a variety of developmentally appropriate learning activities and materials.”(more)