Preschool programs have been shown to provide multiple academic and behavioral benefits to young children. Head Start was created in 1965 to provide early education and support services to low-income families. Since then, preschool enrollment has increased significantly due to factors like increased maternal employment and research demonstrating the importance of early childhood experiences. Studies have found that preschool helps improve children's language, literacy, and math skills while also making them less likely to commit crimes later in life. Providing quality preschool programs can help shape children into successful students and productive members of society.

1. HOW DOES PRE-SCHOOL AID IN
THE ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENTS
AND SOCIAL BEHAVIOR OF
CHILDREN
Are there any benefits of attending Pre-School?

2. BRIEF HISTORY OF PRE-SCHOOL
History of Preschool in the United States
“Head Start, the first publicly funded preschool program, was created in 1965 by President Johnson. The federal government helped create
this half-day program for preschool children from low-income families. Head Start began as a summer pilot program that included an
education component, nutrition and health screenings for children, and support services for families. In the 1960s only ten percent of the
nations three and four year olds were enrolled in a classroom setting. Due to a large amount of people interested, and a lack of funding for
Head Start, during the 1980s a handful of states started their own version of a program for students from low-income families. The positive
success and effects of preschool meant many state leaders were showing interest in educational reform of these young students. By 2005
sixty-nine percent, or over 800,000, four year-old children nationwide participated in some type of state preschool program. The yearly
increase in enrollment of preschool programs throughout the years is due to an increase of higher maternal employment rates, national anti-
poverty initiatives, and research showing the link between early childhood experiences and the brain development of young children. These
factors have caused the rate of attendance in preschool programs to grow each year.”

3. OVERVIEW OF PRE-SCHOOL
Head Start has made it possible for low-income families/at-risk children to receive a quality education, as well as receive
nutritional meals, and health screenings if and when needed. Head Start settings were introduced, and adopted by other states;
who implemented and modified their Head Start programs so that everyone would meet the qualifications. Women were able to
attend work and or school more than previous years, and the need of Head Start programs increased over the years.

4. CREDIBLE SOURCE
Pre-K Programs Reduce Future Crime
“A longitudinal study of participants in a Chicago public schools
program serving Pre-K through third grade students reported that at
age 24 program participants had acquired more education and were
less likely to commit crimes than those who did not receive the
same level of service. This study is a 19-year follow-up report in an
ongoing study of Chicago's Child-Parent Center program, which
appears in the August 2007 issue of the Archives of Pediatrics and
Adolescent Medicine, a monthly journal.”
Pre-K Program Pays Off in Academic Development
“New Mexico's Pre-K initiative is paying off for its four-year-old
participants in greater improvement in early language, literacy, and
math development, according to The Effects of the New Mexico
PreK Initiative on Young Children's School Readiness, a study
released August 2007 by the National Institute for Early Education
Research (NIEER) at Rutgers University. The research was
conducted by Jason T. Hustedt, W. Steven Barnett, and Kwanghee
Jung.”
Benefits of Preschool
“The journal Developmental Psychology has published
research that confirms that Oklahoma's pre-kindergarten program is
successfully helping kids prepare for school. (Oklahoma is one of
the few states to offer preschool to every four year old.) While
learning gains were made by children of different racial and
socioeconomic backgrounds, the study found the most significant
improvements among Hispanic children. Researchers made a point
of noting that the preschool program was staffed by well-educated,
well-trained teachers who earn regular public school salaries.”
The Effects of Universal Pre-K on Cognitive Development (2005)
The Effectiveness of Early Head Start for 3-Year-Old Children and
Their Parents: Lessons for Policy and Programs (2005)
Study Backs Benefits of Preschool (2005) - Listen to the National
Public Radio story by Michelle Trudeau.
Long-Term Benefits
“The two most-often cited studies thought to prove the long-term
benefits of early childhood education.
High/Scope Perry Preschool Study
Abecedarian Early Childhood Intervention Project

5. CREDIBLE SOURCE
VIDEO TITLE: DON’T WORRY, I GOT THIS

6. CREDIBLE SOURCE
VIDEO TITLE: IT’S POSSIBLE

7. ANALYSIS OF INFORMATION
A study has proven that children who attend preschool lessens their potential act of committing a crime. The nurturance and
support received by at-risk children who attended a preschool/ Head Start program has aided in the brain development of those
children, I. myself can remember the kind ways of my preschool teacher Ms. Pearson. She made me feel loved even more than I
was, and she cared for me and my classmates as if we were her own. My oldest children; ages 11 and 7 years old, both reminisce
on the great experiences they had while attending Educare (Chicago). Quality preschool settings that serve at-risk children, and
children that do not fall within the poverty means; hopes to help shape children into academic successes. In Don’t Worry, I Got
This, I heard my oldest child, Camiyah Adams say, “People depend on me, and I’m learning to depend on other people.” I can say
that from experience with being involved in a preschool setting and teaching in a preschool setting, that young children are very
much dependent on their teachers, families, and more experienced peers to navigate through the world around them.
Children can sometimes feel like they are not important because of the way others make them feel; but in a preschool classroom
the children are welcomed with nurturing teachers who listens to them and ensures them that their feelings and expressions matter
too. Children are eager to shine and they feel confident with knowing that while in their preschool environment they will be cared
for; they continue to show persistence through their learning experiences for the years to come.

8. CONNECTIONS
“When teachers take responsibility for student success or failure (rather than assigning that responsibility to student ability or to external
barriers), then the teachers are more “intentional” in their approaches to reaching their students and more successful in meeting their
learning needs (Putman, Smith, & Cassady, 2009). Of course, teacher efficacy and student achievement probably are reciprocal-they affect
each other. When teachers have a higher sense of efficacy, their students learn more, and when students learn more, teacher efficacy
grows.” (Holzberger, Philip, & Kunter, 2013).” (Woolfolk, A. (2016). Educational psychology (13th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson.) Young
students, especially in the preschool age range need teachers that are confident in themselves as well as in them. When young children feel
like they are important and are treated with love and respect, it reflects within the student-teacher relationship. When teachers are able to
perform and deliver, their students are able to develop a sense of empowerment, which in turn keeps the learning going and the minds of
young children growing.

9. CONNECTIONS
“To learn, students must be cognitively, emotionally, and behaviorally engaged in productive class activities.” (Woolfolk, A.
(2016). Educational psychology (13th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson.). Preschool allows young children to express themselves
without limiting them to feel or engage in a specific manner. When children in a preschool classroom are engaged in activities
that draws them in; they are willing to learn and build their cognitive, social-emotional, language, fine motor, gross motor, and
life skills. Teachers have the ability to make connections with their students individually. When the minds of young children are
opened by their interactions with other children, teachers, and family members as well; that is the time when they must be taught
to value their education and implement what they learn and take along with them for the rest of their lives.

10. CONCLUSION
We must encourage the use of language to help young children solve problems without help, and or with help if needed. We must instill
critical thinking skills as well; giving young children the necessary tools to think things through and find positive resolutions. Young
children are eager to learn new things; and we as educators have to be ready to take on such a huge task and teach them that they were put
here to keep the world going. Children benefit from having a preschool education in many ways; such as gaining understanding about who
they are, how things and other work, how to apply things that they have learned in the classroom to everyday life. Children are given
nutritional meals, their health is valued, they may exceed their peers who did not attend preschool on an academic level, and they are less
likely to commit a crime. The first five years of life matters the most when it comes to children learning and being able to make
connections through the process of synapses. Teach children as early as in the womb and prepare them for the world; obtaining a preschool
education makes a difference.

11. REFERENCES
History of Preschool in the United States. Retrieved May18, 2017, from
http://www.k12academics.com/systems-formal-education/preschool-
education/history-preschool-united-states#.WR9LYsa1vIU
Don’t Worry I Got This. Retrieved May 18, 2017, from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8N9ZI9A_nus
It’s Possible (2010). Retrieved May 17, 2017, from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sel65jIFRZw
Woolfolk, A. (2016). Educational psychology (13th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson.

12. USEFUL RESOURCES
• http://mnprek-3.wdfiles.com/local--files/research-
studies/Educare%20and%20using%20data.pdf