Did you go to Pre-4th grade?
Did you go to Pre-4th grade, or Pre-11th grade? Unlikely, so why do we call Early Education in America “Preschool?”
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts — and most of the United States — defines Early Childcare, which incorporates Early Education, as ages 0 to 5. This also includes After-School Care.
At Trust Early Learners, we believe Early Childcare should be defined as ages 0 to 3, and Early Education from ages 3 to 5. After-School care is a challenge for families until children reach roughly the 6th grade when they are able to get home from school or to an activity on their own.
Early Childcare, Early Education, and After-School care are distinct; the needs, budgets, and resources of each are very different — and they should be handled, funded, and resourced independent of one another.
Once children reach the age of 3, they need to be in school, not preschool. Semantics though it may seem, it is the fundamental acceptance of Early Education as truly different than Childcare and After-School care that will help to mitigate problems in the sector, and with our K-12 education system in the long term.
This is not a revolutionary concept. Many countries begin formal education at the age of 3.
School for young learners doesn’t mean worksheets and isn’t prescriptive in its approach. Experts across multiple disciplines (e.g., American Academy of Pediatrics, National Association for the Education of Young Children, and Neuroscience) state that children should learn in a play-based environment.
They can and should enter kindergarten with the foundational literacy skills and language understanding that lead to successful reading development. Early numeracy skills – intentionally embedded in a play-based environment — support a child’s overall learning. In fact, early numeracy skills have been shown to enhance later reading development (Journal of Experimental Child Psychology). Social and executive functioning skills are essential to learning for young children. All of this can be achieved through a program with an environment geared towards these developmental goals – in any setting.
At Trust Early Learners (TEL), we use the Global Early Education program to create intentional, play-based, literacy-, math-, and art-rich Early Education. We also weave into everything we do the two skills that are among the greatest predictors of later academic success:
Social and Emotional Competency
The Ability to Organize Around a Task
If children have these skills when they reach kindergarten, they are better prepared to access higher learning and to become confident, competent learners.
The Martin Trust Partnership in Education for Early Learners is a school, and our educators are professionals, impacting children as profoundly as teachers in later grades. In fact, more so.
Our school day runs 5 days a week, from September to June – from 8:30AM until 3:30PM — roughly the same schedule as many K-12 schools. Children spend their days immersed in learning through play, and our Educators have the time after school to plan, and to learn themselves — through weekly Professional Development and Collaboration – just as educators in the K-12 system do.
When we as a society finally commit to Early Education with the same focus as upper levels of schooling, we will create true systemic change – for our children, our families and our communities.