Is a Preschool Division Worth It?

BY SUSAN LAIR, Phd - CONSULTANT, Executive Coach

Do you know that seventy-five percent (75%) of a person's brain development occurs after birth, and a toddler's brain is about 2 ½ times as active as an adult's? Experiences during the early years profoundly affect brain structure and performance throughout adulthood.

The first four years is the fastest growth period for frontal lobe networks
The brain is 90% of its adult weight by age 6

There are optimal periods of opportunity, "prime times," during which the brain is particularly efficient at specific types of learning. Eighty-five percent (85%) of a child's core brain structure is developed by age four. This growth provides the foundation for a child's future health, academic success, and social and emotional well-being.

Harvard University's Center on the Developing Child was founded in July 2006. Jack P. Shonkoff, M.D., heads the Center and is the Julius B. Richmond FAMRI Professor of Child Health and Development at the Harvard School of Public Health and the Harvard Graduate School of Education; Professor of Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School and Boston Children's Hospital; and Director of the university-wide Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University. He is chair of the National Scientific Council on the Developing Child, a multi-university collaboration comprising leading neuroscience, psychology, pediatrics, and economics scholars. Its mission is to bring credible science to bear on public policy affecting young children.

"Brains are built over time," Shonkoff pointed out. "Neural circuits are wired in a bottom-up sequence, and the capacity for change decreases with age. The brain is very adaptable, but it's hard to make up the difference if it's built on a weak foundation. The research is saying that if you wait till K through 12, you're too late."
- Harvard University Study, 2011.

Reasons Schools Should Consider a Preschool

Preschool parents are loyal. Once they are invested in a school, they stay.
Due to the opportunity to provide parents of young children with quality child development and consistent parenting knowledge, preschool parents become a school's most attentive and dedicated school families.
Preschool to twelve schools have less attrition, larger endowments, and are more financially sustainable.
Front-end Load – Since so much of a child's future academic success depends on the first four years, the impact of a quality preschool program could be profound.

Reasons For a Strategic Approach

The staffing of quality preschools is expensive, requiring a teacher and an assistant in each classroom.
Quality preschools require space.
Quality programs that provide hands-on experiences, interest-based learning, self-problem solving, active learning, deep thinking, and mental exploration require extensive ongoing teacher training and resources.
Parents want quality schools and will invest in them.NAIS reports that the pre-K drove overall enrollment growth among U.S. private schools during 2021-2022 to third-grade recovery.

More than a decade ago, psychologist Martin Seligman, founder of Positive Psychology, defined grit as perseverance, self-control, optimism, zest, curiosity, social and emotional intelligence, gratitude, joy, and resilience. We know now that grit can be cultivated and developed especially when we start in preschool. Catherine Steiner-Adair, author of Got Grit, asks,

"How would your school change — your curriculum, your methods of assessment, the very experience of being a student in your school — if you placed the social and emotional skills and character traits that we know are highly correlated with psychological well-being and career success as a central through-line in your mission? "

Since publishing A Nation at Risk forty years ago, efforts to improve student achievement have taken many forms. One of those efforts is preschool. Harvard's Center on the Developing Child advocates that to become successful learners, children need to develop skills in four key areas that quality preschools provide:

Language and Literacy Skills

Language provides the foundation for the development of literacy skills. Learning to communicate through gestures, sounds, and words increases a child's interest in—and later understanding—books and reading.

Thinking Skills

Children are born with a need to understand how the world works. In their everyday experiences, children use and acquire an understanding of math concepts, such as counting, sorting, and problem-solving skills that they will need for school.

Self-Control

Self-control—the ability to express and manage emotions appropriately—is essential for success in school and healthy development overall.

Self-Confidence

When children feel competent and believe in themselves, they are more willing to take on new challenges, a key ingredient for school success.

Questions to Answer?

Will your school's preschool include children under three? Licensing? School or Daycare?
Will the preschool be a stand-alone or act as a feeder to the regular school program?
Will you require students entering kindergarten to follow the same admissions procedures as new students?
Is there room on your campus for preschool? What is the preschool's capacity?
What educational approach will your school use? Reggio Emilia? Montessori? Traditional? Phonics?
Will the preschool program include physical education, art, music, and theater? If faith-based, will preschool students attend chapel?
Will the preschool have a second language component? Hire native-speaking teachers and teaching aides?
How will adding a preschool impact the school's current operating and capital budgets?
Has the school's business office and the Board's finance committee determined a strategic financial plan?
School hours? School-year or Year-round?
What do the school's accrediting organization standards say about – Planning? Teacher credentials? Teacher/Student ratios? Program?

Is A Preschool Physical Education Component Worth It?

Movement, dance, group games, and active play can support a preschooler's major motor skills. Physical activity of all kinds stimulates young children's development in the following ways:

Physical Development

Using their bodies to move and explore provides the exercise needed for strong, healthy bodies.

Intellectual Development

Children learn problem-solving skills by trying different actions—climbing up, over, in, or through, skipping, hopping, and running. Physical education also encourages teamwork and essential thinking skills that help young children implement their ideas.

Communication

Children learn through play, and communication is essential to physical and intellectual growth.

Building Strong Relationships

Relations with people are enhanced through our experiences with them. Movement is an essential way that we connect with others.

Self-confidence

As young children use their bodies to discover their world, they gain knowledge, strength, and skills.

Is a second language program worth it?

Effective communication requires so much more than just being able to translate vocabulary words. It requires knowledge of intonation, dialect, and intent and a nuanced understanding of word use, expression, and a language's cultural context.
Experts believe preschool is the best time to learn a second language. During the first five years of a child's development, the ability of the brain to learn a second language is unmatched compared to any later stage. (David Barner, PhD, Associate Professor of Psychology and Linguistics at UCSD)
When children learn a second language, there is a boost to cognitive growth, creativity, and critical thinking skills. Bilingual children also tend to be more empathetic and open-minded to other cultures.
Our tongues are fully developed by age ten. Learning a second language before a child is ten years old encourages the sound and fluency of a native speaker.
The general consensus is that it takes between five to seven years for an individual to achieve advanced fluency.