Sheehan 1

Brittney Sheehan

Zachary Gregory

ENG 1100

12 December 2018

Preschool Education Benefits

Early childhood education plays a very important role in young children’s lives.

Preschool programs can help with communication skills and overall cognitive behavior.

Preschool should be mandatory for the children who are within the age requirements. Sending

children to preschool will not only help them learn the basics for kindergarten; but it can help

them become acclimated to going to school and being away from their parents. Preschool

programs are built to instil skills for the children later on in life. They will see benefits in their

test scores, IQ points, they will increase in their percentiles on standardized tests and develop

motor skills.

Sending your children to school may seem like a tough and scary experience. For some

kids preschool may be their first time being away from their parents for extended periods of

time. While that may sound stressful, it is beneficial for both the children and the parents. Single

mothers and even married mothers can see the perks of having their children enrolled in a

preschool program. There have been studies done that shows the employment of single and even

married mothers of children between the ages of three and five have increased when the children

are in a public program and even cheaper private programs. For mothers with children of the age

of five they see a fifteen percent increase in employment, hours and earnings, mothers with

children under five see a twenty percent increase (Bernett 13). Children who live in poverty will

be able to see short-term benefits such as, higher test scores and a higher IQ when they have an
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early childhood education. They also see some long-term benefits in graduation rate, grade

retention and special education. Most studies for long-term effects show that grade retention and

special education rates are lowered when the child has had a preschool education. In all of the

studies, high school graduation data works in favor of the children with an early childhood

education (Barnett “Long-Term Cognitive” 205). While it may take a while to see the long-term

benefits, they will see the short-term benefits much faster, especially in the first few years of

elementary school. Children in poverty see benefits in their test scores and their IQ increases.

Programs designed to improve education for children under five show immediate increase on IQ

and achievement of 0.5 standard deviations which amounts to 8 IQ points (Bernett “Long-Term

Cognitive” 204-205). These children will see these heightened test scores until the third grade

when they start to even out with everyone around them. These short-term benefits will help them

with the long-term ones, like keeping them out of special education and increasing graduation

rates.

Parents are seeing these benefits, and choosing to enroll their children in preschool

programs. A little over 10 years ago, preschool education started to become more common.

While preschool programs, especially public ones are becoming more popular, as of 2018 there

are still 12 states without state funded public pre-K programs. States having state funded

programs helped the enrollment rates increase as this survey shows, “ In 2005, two-thirds of 4-

year-olds and more than 40 percent of 3-year-olds were enrolled in a preschool education

program. This represents a substantial increase over earlier decades, particularly at age 4”

(Barnett “Who Goes to Preschool” 1). With preschool programs becoming more common, that

means enrollment rates will increase as well. Barnett gives some percentages for the make up of

preschool programs in the nation, almost 75% of four year olds and 50% of three year olds attend
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a preschool program. Half of the four year olds and less than 20% of all three year olds attend a

public program, and almost 35% of each age group are enrolled in private programs (Barnett

“Preschool education and lasting effects” 3). With public programs becoming more common

parents who don’t have the funds for a private program don’t have to stress that their children are

missing out. They will still see the short and long term effects of a preschool program when

enrolled in a state funded program.

There are many effects that preschool can have on young children. There are long term,

short term and cognitive effects that your children will see during the year they are in the

program and years to follow. There have been studies done that show children develop more

with being in a program. The programs have very large effects, such as moving a child from the

30th percentile to the 50th on standardized tests when they are about to enter kindergarten. More

studies have been done to show more long term effects like study quality, it shows that the

average effect is large enough to move a child from the 24th percentile to the 50th. (Bernett

“The Promise of Preschool” 23). There have been many studies done to show the long and short

term effects. Tests have also been done to see if the children who test at higher levels in their

early year, still test as high when they grow older. It has been shown that in fact, their test scores

level out with their peers beyond the first three years after preschool (Loveless 1). There are

short term effects that are easily detected like IQ and test scores being more advanced than

children who weren’t enrolled in preschool programs. There are also the long term effects like

high school graduation rates and better behavior. While the short term effects may level out with

the rest of the children, the kids with preschool education will continue to develop other skills

that they may have not acquired if they didn’t attend preschool.
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Preschool programs often help children develop and learn skills earlier on than if they

just jumped into kindergarten. Children often stay at home most days without other children their

age or slightly more advanced children. Thus making it easier for them to not pick up on social

or developmental skills that they learn through kids their own age. Children in preschool

programs develop communication skills, they also develop sharing skills and gain small

responsibilities. They will see developments in their vocabulary and reading skills (Barnett “The

Promise of Preschool” 23). Preschool programs help the development process start earlier so by

the time they reach kindergarten they can focus on the curriculum and not have to gain these

important skills all at the same time. These developments have also shown that early learning

impacts their educational achievement, adult earning, decreases crime and delinquency (Barnett

“Who Goes to Preschool?” 1). The developments can keep kids on track through school, their

career and their lives after they graduate. Early childhood education can keep kids from getting

into a life of crime and delinquency making it easier for them to stay in school and be set on a

career path later on. Having some of these developments will be considered long term effects but

they can also be considered short term effects.

Most states have state funded preschool programs that are making it easier for parents to

send their kids to a preschool program for free. Without having these essentially free programs

parents would have to pay for one, such as a private school which can become very pricey.

Without these state funded programs parents that are living in poverty or just don’t make enough

money to pay for these programs wouldn’t be able to send their child, and their child wouldn’t

get the benefits of an early childhood education. With public programs the enrollment would be

doubled since the children who live in poverty and even middle class children would have more

opportunities to get enrolled (Barnett “The Promise of Preschool” 27). By having these public
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programs that are already funded by the state it would open up more opportunities in their

community and for the children’s further education. When speaking about the differences

between public and private preschool programs there isn’t much different in the way of what

they are learning, the major difference is the cost. When speaking about the difference between

preschool programs and daycare most people just assume that daycare is just a place to drop the

children off while at work. People also assume the children just play, nap and eat, they actually

teach the children as if they were in preschool. Preschool and daycare programs operate under

the same guidelines meaning they get the same about of material taught that they would if they

were in a strictly preschool program. The biggest differences between an actual preschool

program and a daycare program is the cost and length of time they children are there. Most

daycare programs are not state funded so there are payments that are needed. Daycare programs

are usually open the same length as a typical work day making it easier for parents to work and

have their kids in an all day program. People may choose daycare because of the hours because

most preschool programs are half days and the parents would have to arrange for transportation

and childcare when the child is not at school. With any of the programs, public preschool, private

preschool or daycare the children get education and benefits from being enrolled.

Preschool programs provide opportunities for children and even parents. Opportunities

the children may not see with their eyes, but they will be able to experience things through life

and handle situations with skills taught during these crucial years of learning. Preschool

education isn’t meant to force kids into school too early but provide short and long term benefits.

I think preschool should be state funded in all states so children across the nation have the same

opportunities as one another. Kids in poverty will get the chance to get an education just like

children in a higher economical class. Preschool takes place during some of the most important
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learning years, helping install good work ethic and just common life skills and communication

skills. Children will be around others their own age and will learn from each other little skills.

Preschool is very beneficial for everyone no matter race, gender, social status or financial status.

Works Cited

Barnett, W. Steven. "Preschool education and its lasting effects: Research and policy

implications." (2008).

Barnett, W. Steven. "Long-term cognitive and academic effects of early childhood education on

children in poverty." Preventive Medicine 27.2 (1998): 204-207.

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Barnett, W. Steven, and Donald J. Yarosz. "Who goes to preschool and why does it matter?."

Preschool Policy Matters7 (2004).

Barnett, W. Steven, and Ellen Frede. "The Promise of Preschool: Why We Need Early Education

for All." American Educator 34.1 (2010): 21.

Loveless, Becton. “What Is So Important About Early Childhood Education?” Benefits and

Disadvantages of Homeschooling (2018).