UPK
The choice for this topic was drive by a growing research showing that providing high quality education for pre-kindergarten children has significant benefits to them, schools and the entire communities in which the kids grow. The need to understand these benefits and any possible negative effects of the education programs was also a major reason for selecting this particular topic. The Pre- Kindergarten education programs assist in preparing children for the school, and considering that gaining basic knowledge is important for childhood development, the programs are quite essential to the kids.
Various research work done indicates that children who attend pre-K programs offered in public schools are normally better prepared to succeed in kindergarten than the kids who have not been exposed to such programs(Stevens & English, 2016). Such benefits have been observed among kids who are dual-language learners and these benefits are relatively significant after they undergo pre-k education programs. Another important aspect is the effect on the cognitive development of the children who have been taken through such programs. The cognitive development of the children is enhanced and this improves their readiness to take part in the kindergarten education moving forward (Stevens & English, 2016).
Regardless of the mentioned impact of Universal Pre-K, the programs should have a broad focus on childhood education to cover not only the academic part, put their social and emotional growth as well. I think that to connect the dots in educational trajectory of a child, the program should involve the input of parents and well-trained teachers. My passion for this stems from the fact that these programs can close the life gap for all children and hence benefit entire society. The strengths for the Universal Pre-K are that all children regardless of economic status or race are given the same platform to start off their academic journey.
References
Stevens, K. B., & English, E. (2016). Does pre-K work? The research on ten early childhood programs—and what it tells us. American Enterprise Institute, 1-53.
