Monday, October 08, 2012

The Impossibility of Preschool

Robert Pondiscio:

“All of this would seem to argue for a system in which we spent ever more of our energies and money on early, preschool education rather than less,” concludes Bellafante.

Yes, but let’s be VERY clear: What is needed to close the verbal gap is not just preschool. Not even “high quality” preschool. What is needed is high-quality preschool that drenches low-income learners in the language-rich, knowledge-rich environment that their more fortunate peers live in every hour of every day from the moment they come home from the delivery room.

Am I the only one who sees a disjuncture between what Pondiscio is calling for for low-income kids and what he says works for "more fortunate peers?" Because literally, the difference is not some plan or curriculum, but simply more time in contact with and talking and listening to caring, educated adults. So providing this in pre-schools for low-income students shouldn't be that hard, just kind of expensive.

4 comments:

Robert Pondiscio said...

<<< Because literally, the difference is not some plan or curriculum, but simply more time in contact with and talking and listening to caring, educated adults.

Your disjuncture might be the word "simply." I'm suggesting that at present, not all preschools are marked by the presence of caring, educated adults. And those that are, do not necessarily place the greatest premium on creating a knowledge and language rich experience. I'm guessing that the average home with college educated, professional parents exposes kids to a lot more sophisticated language through parent talk and read alouds than the average preschool. Thus special attention needs to be paid to the preschool offered to low-SES kids to at least begin to acknowledge and address the gaps.

Jason said...

I did some observations during my time at Brown at several community providers of preschool in the Providence area and observed exactly what Robert is talking about.

Though caring and well-intentioned, I was shocked at how language-poor the environments were. It was amazing how few of the interactions that all the research says are most advantageous actually occurred. This was even at sites that are fairly well-funded, nice facilities, good reputations, etc.

Tom Hoffman said...

Why do you think that was the case though, if we accept the premise that this is what educated parents to "naturally" in 2012?

Paige said...

Considering offering full time preschool at my school. Unfortunately, it will cost about $7000 per year... in tuition... We need to value early childhood by supporting all children.