The Preschool Panic- It's time to send them to preschool... get ready to peel them off of you and run. Right? Wrong!

For some reason it has become acceptable to throw a 3 or 4 year old into a room full of strangers and expect them to "Go play!".  But this is not a good first experience with school.  So why do we accept it?

It's August.  School shopping is about to begin and soon many families will be peeled away from their clinging preschoolers and told to "say goodbye" from the door.  I see the concern and guilt and worry in the many Facebook posts and memes and I ask myself, "Why do they think it SHOULD be that way?".

Of course, I have a different perspective.  I am not only a mother, but an educator who studies Early Childhood Education.  I am a preschool teacher and an adjunct college instructor so I am constantly up to date on the current best practices for early childhood education (which is birth to age 8... yes, that means child care through 2nd or 3rd grade!).  What many people who do not study child development or education do not know is that young children (under age 8) learn differently that those over age 8.  Well, we really all know this... if we thought young children were capable of understanding things that older children did then we wouldn't put certain restrictions on them like an early bedtime, only going outside when supervised, not allowing them to drive a car!  Before the age of 8 children learn very concretely rather than abstractly.  This is the reason they are still mixing up real and pretend, testing limits, and struggling with rules.  For example, you can tell a child that if they touch something hot it will hurt, but do they always listen?  No, they touch it... and then they cry.  But then, they have experienced the pain- what you've been telling them and that's when they "get it". Of course, sometimes it takes a child a few experimental touches to make sure it's always going to hurt! :)

For some reason though, schools are traditionally set up ignore this idea and we- parents and families- accept this.  Why?  I believe it is time that families of young children understand how their child learns and demand that schools step up to meet those quality standards.  The best part about this is that there are already things in place in our area to help families do this!  Unfortunately, they are not well publicized.  That's where I come in...

ALL Preschools are NOT Created Equal

Preschool= childcare= daycare= prekindergarten.  Not really, but they are used interchangeably.  There is no "real definition" for preschool.  What we are finding is that child care centers (previously known as day care) call certain classrooms preschool or prekindergarten based on the ages of children enrolled.

Know what you're looking for though.  Do you want preschool- a couple hours a day for 2, 3, or 4 days a week for your child to learn to be away from you, follow a routine, meet friends and start a path for school learning?  If so, then that is what you need to look for.  Many "preschool classrooms" located in a child care center are actually full-day, five-day-a-week programs that may do some of the things listed above, but mainly serve as a place for families to send their children while they are at work.

Some differences between the child care preschool classrooms and a part-time preschool classroom:

Child Care Center                                              Part-Time Preschool

12 months a year                                                   School Calendar (Aug- May or Sep.- June)

Open during holidays                                        Christmas Break, Spring Break

Teachers rotate classes                                     Teachers often "set" for each class

Often have less family involvement              Families encouraged to help out, attend events

Classes change and rotate                                  Classes are set, children stay together for year

If a Preschool or Child Care Center is Licensed, they are "Good"... right?

Well.... no.  Licensing is the bare minimum.  And it takes a LOT to get a center to close!  Really!  The centers that have left children overnight, had employees film "baby fight clubs"... they are still open.  They might get a warning, but they are open.

You need to know what to look for and what to ask to make sure that the center you're looking at is actually good quality.  And do you know what?  All those licensing inspections are public!  You can find any center or school's recent report by visiting

http://www.odjfs.state.oh.us/cdc/query.asp

1. Search for a center by name or by looking up one in your area
2. You'll see a list of centers come up and in the last column you'll see their quality rating (0-5 stars, 5 being the best).
3. Clicking on a center's name will bring you to their page.  There you can click "see current inspections".
4. It will list last inspections and state whether it was "fully compliant" or "partially compliant".  You can then click to read the entire report or click "NC" to read what was "non-compliant" (or what was found wrong at the time of the visit).
5. There you'll see each rule that was broken and you can click on the rule description in blue.  This is where you'll be able to see exactly what that school did wrong.  This is important because it could be something major- like giving out medication without permission- or something minor.  Bottom line, it's all there for you to read.  And you should!

STEP UP TO QUALITY and NAEYC Accreditation Can HELP...

• There is a quality rating system in Ohio called Step Up To Quality.  It is a voluntary system that schools and centers ask to come out and rate their curriculum, teachers, classroom environments and more. http://jfs.ohio.gov/cdc/stepUpQuality.stm
• Obviously, centers that do not get rated do not have the best things to say about this program.  I have even called centers and asked if they participate.  When they tell me no and I ask why I have heard them say, "Well, all that really means is that we would have to do a lot more paperwork.".  Ok... then, ask that center if their teachers have degrees... what their class sizes are... what is the child to staff ratio.  How do they individualize learning?  I actually had a center director tell me that although they did not do Step Up To Quality they maintained their own high quality standards.  Yet, none of the teachers held degrees.  None.  Zero.  Is that who you want teaching your child?
• The National Association for the Education for Young Children (NAEYC) evaluates centers based on their 10 standards.  You can find a center that is accredited by visiting their site at http://www.naeyc.org/academy/accreditation/search

How Much Does Preschool Cost?

Ah!  This is different depending on the quality rating, curriculum and setting.  For example, a month of preschool can cost the same as one week of child care.

When looking at cost consider what it includes- is there music?  gymnastics?  outdoor learning space?  Centers who employee degreed teachers will cost more than those that hire high school graduates as degreed teachers should be compensated for their educational experience rather than receive minimum wage.

Swipe Cards (old vouchers), Early Childhood Grants and UPK

There are many initiatives in Ohio- and they are confusing.  What you need to know is that they exist.  That way, when you call a center you know what to ask:

Do you offer UPK?  Do you offer Early Childhood Grants from The Ohio Dept. of Education?  Do you accept swipe cards?

Cuyahoga County offers UPK or Universal Pre-Kindergarten.  Contracts went out to many schools in the county and schools will cut your tuition payments by 1/3 or 1/2 depending on your family size and income!

The State of Ohio also gave out contacts to schools.  Tuition for these programs is completely based on family size and income.

For an explanation of both, I would (obviously) suggest looking into the tuition page of my preschool at http://parmapreschool.org/tuition/.  This information is for my school- schools do have the right to set their own tuition for each program they run.

I think this is a really good start... but you ALSO need to investigate what kind of philosophy and classroom culture the school you're looking at has to offer.  Montessori, C0-op, direct instruction, play-based, Reggio-inspired, Waldorf.... Whew!  But that's for another post...