Posted on 06/10/2010 6:06:05 AM PDT by reaganaut1
Once considered just places to play, preschools now sandwich science and math lessons in between naps and recess. To help teachers meet the new academic rigor and to reduce socioeconomic achievement gaps that start before kindergarten, the state wants more teachers to earn bachelor’s degrees.
Less than a third of early childhood educators who teach in private programs, where the vast majority of the state’s preschoolers are enrolled, hold bachelor’s degrees, and many are at education levels barely higher than a high school diploma, according to a report released this spring by Strategies for Children Inc., a nonprofit advocacy group in Boston.
Nationwide, the report found that 50 percent of early educators have a bachelor’s degree.
A more highly skilled workforce, particularly one well versed in how a child’s brain develops between birth and age 5, could play a pivotal role in identifying gaps in learning and crafting a plan to remedy them before the child reaches elementary school, education specialists say. Better trained preschool teachers could also be in a better position to spot learning disabilities or developmental issues at a younger age.
“We have children who enter kindergarten with one-third of the vocabulary of their peers,’’ said Paul Reville, the state’s education secretary. “That puts them at a huge disadvantage.’’
Boosting the credentials of the early childhood workforce is a key component of the state’s effort to offer universal access to high-quality preschool to all youngsters between the ages of 3 and 5. About 70 percent of the more than 244,000 children in that age bracket attend preschool, but the quality of the programs, which number several hundred, can vary widely.
The Department of Early Education and Care is developing new quality standards for preschool programs
(Excerpt) Read more at boston.com ...
My mother taught me before I entered school, despite having "only" a high school diploma. If high school graduates are so incompetent, what does that say about government schooling? Parents who want to pay up for preschool teachers with more schooling should do so.
Most mothers don't have B.A.'s. Should they turn over their children to the government. I'm afraid the leftists would say "Yes!".
All indoctrinators and enforcers of State edict must be suitably “educated” by the State.
Can’t have any “mavericks” out there teaching kids.
Ping
If the answers to these questions are resoundingly negative or inconclusive, then why have preschool at all?
Uh? Could it be that these kids have 1/3 the IQ?
How stupid. Being a good preschool teacher does take talent but not the kind of talent that you learn in your sophomore history course.
If there’s any science taught I’ll bet it’s junk “global warming” crap that has to be “untaught” later on.
I too, believe in standards, however. These teachers should all be thoroughly versed in first aid, have spotless criminal records, be citizens or legal immigrants, speak English, and be free of STDs.
My wife teaches preschool and she has a Masters degree....in Textiles. The director has a Masters in Architecture from Harvard.
A degree, a state certificate and A UNION CARD.
I was VERY picky about my kids’ preschool teachers, but I never even considered whether they had a college degree. The things that matter when working with very young children have almost nothing to do with college.
It's all about keeping the "education industry" flush with money.
Pre-schoolers don't need a teach with a BA.
IMO, preschools are popular because children need daycare and the parents feel better about sending them to “school” than about sticking them in a daycare center.
That is why my kids did not go to preschool — I stayed home with them.
I know someone who is a preschool “teacher”. Her class has 5 students in it. She makes lesson plans that consist of how to fill the hours with things for the kids to do. She is basically a mother-substitute (babysitter).
I've just come to think that all of these types of programs, i.e. preschool, Head Start, etc. are nothing more than glorified babysitting as they seem to have no effect whatsoever on academic outcomes for students.
We know lots of parents who are home-schooling their children. I think anyone with an IQ over 100, and the proper curriculum, can do a decent job of teaching grade and high school students. Degrees aren't necessary. In fact, I think a degree in "Education" is an example of "learned incapacity."
If they are "private" programs, then it's none of the states business.
“In fact, I think a degree in “Education” is an example of “learned incapacity.”
________
A couple of my kids attend a public high school. They want to know why their teachers don’t seem to know much about the subjects they teach. Their English teachers are young and act like high school cheerleaders. One of them told one of my DS that Troy has nothing to do with Homer’s _The Illiad_. Another DS’s German teacher won’t answer questions that go beyond the pace of the class (1-2 textbook pages per week), and his history teacher blames the latest earthquakes on global warming. This DS’ English teacher gave him 100% on an essay in which he wrote a bunch of gobbledy-gook. I asked DS how he could write nothing and get such a good grade. He said he knew what she wanted to hear.
My kids are angry about this. I repair the damage after school and during summer vacations. I’d pull those two out of PS, except that they are extroverts and they hate the idea of being stuck in our rural home in the sticks with no one outside the family to talk to except the cows. Plus they love participating in JROTC. They prefer for me to after-school and summer-school them.
Boston Globe wants to spend MORE money
to close those gaps
and make it fair
Your money, not theirs.
Think this’ll do it everyone?
In Massachusetts they want bachelors teaching young boys...
Nothing surprising about that.
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