A nursery school or preschool is a school for the education of very young children (generally five years of age and younger). These schools range from schools which seek to teach young children to schools which only provide childcare with little educational benefits. Schools which focus on education generally teach early social skills including interpersonal interaction, being a part of a group of peers, and classroom skills such as following the instructions of a teacher. Some formal education also takes place, such as early reading or language skills. Some nursery schools have adopted specialized methods of teaching, such as Montessori, High Scope, Reggio Emilia approach, Bank Street and various other pedagogy.

In the United States most preschool advocates support the National Association for the Education of Young Children's Developmentally Appropriate Practices.

Types of Preschool

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Head Start

• Goal

The goal of Head Start and Early Head Start is to increase the school readiness of young children in low income families. These programs serve children from birth to age 5, pregnant women, and their families.

• History

Head Start was started by the Federal Government in 1964 to help meet the needs of disadvantaged preschool children. A panel of child development experts drew up this program at the request of the Federal Government, and the program became what is Project Head Start.

The office of Economic Opportunity launched Project Head Start as an 8 week summer program in 1965. The project was designed to help end poverty by providing preschool children (age 3 to school entry age) in low-income families with a program that would meet emotional, social, health, nutritional, and psychological needs.

Head Start was then transferred to the Office of Child Development in the US Department of Health, Education, and Welfare in 1969. Today it is a program within the Administration on Children, Youth and Families in the Department of Health and Human Services. Programs get administered locally by school systems and non-profit organizations.

• Programs

1. Early Head Start - promotes healthy prenatal outcomes, promotes healthy family functioning, and strengthens the development of infants and toddlers
2. Head Start - helps to create healthy development in low-income children. Programs offer a wide variety of services, that depend on a child's and each family's heritage and experience, to influence all aspects of a child's development and learning.
3. Migrant and Seasonal Program Branch - supports healthy child development across the nation with high quality services
4. American Indian-Alaska Native Program Branch - provides American Indian and Alaska Native children and families with services such as: health care, educational, nutritional, socialization, as well as other services promoting school readiness. Services are primarily for disadvantaged preschool children, and infants and toddlers.

• Services

1. Disabilities - All programs fully include children with disabilities
2. Education- The goal of Head Start is to ensure that those children enrolled in the program are ready to begin school. Activities are geared towards skill and knowledge domains.
3. Family and Community Partnerships - both groups involved in operation, governance and evaluation of the program. Both groups make vital contributions.
4. Health - Health is seen as an important factor in a child's ability to thrive and develop. Program provides screenings to evaluate a child's overall health, regular health check-ups, and good practices in oral health, hygiene, nutrition, personal care, and safety.
5. Program Management and Operations - "focus on delivering high-quality child development services to children from low-income families."

Pre-Kindergarten

Pre-kindergarten is defined as: "center-based programs for 4-year olds that are fully or partially funded by state education agencies and that are operated in schools or under the direction of state and local education agencies" (http://www.fpg.unc.edu/~ncedl/pages/pre-k_study.cfm).

• Difference between Pre-K and Child Care

Pre-kindergarten is an educational experience, while child care tends to be caregiving so that both parents can work (one parent in a single parent head of household). However, good child-care programs can be just like a prekindergarten class, as long as there are experienced, well-educated teachers who promote children's cognitive and social development. State-funded pre-kindergarten programs have set standards and are able to provide the necessary resources to ensure that every student is offered a high-quality learning environment that prepares a child for further schooling.

• How can Pre-K prepare a child for school?

Good pre-kindergarten programs instruct children in different skill areas that they will need in further schooling. Such skill areas include: learning to read, to do math, to progress in science, and to understand the world and how it works. Through pre-kindergarten programs, children are able to become familiar with books, words, language use, numbers and problem solving, as well as important social skills for classrooms (paying attention and peer relationships).

• References

• • http://www.upkflorida.org/index.cfm?Section=TheResearch&Page=WhyPreKImportant#2
  • http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/hsb/

Day Care

See also

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• Childcare
• Steve Biddulph, author of Raising Babies: Should Under 3s Go to Nursery? ISBN 0007221924
• Kindersite Project - Researching in to the use of technology within Preschool and Kindergarten with appropriate Internet content

Child care | School types | Educational stages

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