Long hrs in preschool/daycare harmful

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iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Long hrs in preschool/daycare harmful
2470
Sun, 03-19-2006 - 3:09pm

http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20051101/news_1n1earlyed.html

Very interesting. Particularly the difference in the middle to upper income kids vs low income.

"I personally feel children need the nurture of their parents and the home," she said. "Those early years, that's when they are bonding to their family. That nurturing, only the family can give that."

I tend to agree.

MM, WOHM to B&E, 7.24.03

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iVillage Member
Registered: 03-28-2003
Fri, 04-21-2006 - 11:45am
Can I just ask this:
How did his reading compare to others' by the time he got to third grade?
iVillage Member
Registered: 09-04-1997
Fri, 04-21-2006 - 11:46am
Nobody said that the school district alone was responsible for the outcome of each child's education. That would be dumb. Really dumb. Dumber than a, oh, never mind. But I don't see how a school district could make it its mission to respect the individual needs of learners and provide an environment that would allow each child to reach his or her potential and then not provide appropriate services for kids whose potential is either greatly lower or greatly higher than average. Otherwise, what they are doing is saying that they will make sure, to the best of their ability and the child's ability, that each kid can meet the standards for their grade, or whatever. That may be a fine mission statement, but that's not what they say they are doing.
iVillage Member
Registered: 01-05-2000
Fri, 04-21-2006 - 11:46am

>It's hard as a parent to do nothing when we see other children entering Kindergarten (even pre-K) knowing how to read, write and do pre-math.<

I'd rather children know how to stand in line, listen, be quiet when appropriate, follow classroom rules, raise their hand, and use the restroom. Ability to read is such a wide age span that it shouldn't be required or expected by age 5 or 4.5 depending on where the birthday falls in the school calendar.

Chris

The truth may be out there but lies are in your head. Terry Pratchett

iVillage Member
Registered: 08-27-2005
Fri, 04-21-2006 - 11:52am

"It just seems that as adults we can read the same books"

Again, I would tend to disagree with that. Some adults are functionally illiterate, the majority of adults manage either a basic (defined as "skills needed to perform simple and everyday literacy activities") or intermediate reading level (defined as "skills necessary to perform moderately challenging literacy activities). Only 13-15 percent of all adults were found to be proficient according to the National Assesment of Adult Literacy. A shocking 22% of the population was found to be below basic level with regard to Quantitative literacy. See the following link for more details:

http://nces.ed.gov/NAAL/PDF/2006470.PDF

The reality is that many people will pick up a Grisham thriller without problems but far fewer will be able to pick up, say, a book by Umberto Eco or Salman Rushdie without struggling (not that I am not making judgements of those books as "good" or "bad" just that the level of literacy required for an Eco book is significantly higher than a Grisham book).

I have no idea whether an early reader is more likely to fall into the "proficient" category later on, but the reality is that even adults achieve very different levels of literacy.

iVillage Member
Registered: 12-29-2004
Fri, 04-21-2006 - 11:54am

<>

I agree; most people probably don't think of curriculum content as being one of the biggest problem, but I think it's one of the key reasons why minority graduation rates are so low and why boys in particular are having a hard time connecting with school.

There's no substitute for books, but schools will have to find ways of capturing their audience, and that will mean much more project-based and vocationally oriented curriculum. Standardized testing will have to move over for portfolio-based assessment.

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I definitely agree. Especially when a sizable chunk of the adult population can't read a newspaper.

iVillage Member
Registered: 08-27-2005
Fri, 04-21-2006 - 12:01pm

"A really accurate test of genius or high IQ is the student who can breeze confidently into a standardized exam without having taken any commercially-advertized prep course beforehand ~ and of course does really well on the exam."

That reminds me.... I took the ACTs my senior year in high school after having missed school entirely for my junior year. I walked into the exam without a clue that I was supposed to prepare or take prep courses because no one had bothered to warn me. Still, I got an overall score of 31 (I think..I do remember that it was the equivalent to a 1450 on the SAT). Apparently, that qualified me for Mensa :-).

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-27-2003
Fri, 04-21-2006 - 12:04pm
I'm sure there are lots of reasons for reading discrepancies among adults. I would highly doubt, however, that the age they started reading is a significant factor.
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-28-2003
Fri, 04-21-2006 - 12:05pm

As an adult, it probably doesn't matter when you began to read. But it probably matters a lot when you are six, in first grade, have been reading for three years, and the teacher spends a huge portion of every day drilling Hat, Cat, Sat.

Why have elite traveling sports teams for kids when it ends up that as adults, we pretty much all play soccer at the park the same?

iVillage Member
Registered: 01-05-2000
Fri, 04-21-2006 - 12:05pm

I have always been a good test taker. Standardized testing was a breeze for me and I always tested above grade level. Where I lagged behind was on essay tests. My dd Erica does very poorly on standardized tests. She always tested 2 grades below her grade level but her classroom work was always above grade level except in math. As an artist, she never really got Algebra.

Chris

The truth may be out there but lies are in your head. Terry Pratchett

iVillage Member
Registered: 08-27-2005
Fri, 04-21-2006 - 12:06pm
And I bet you can guess the answer to that question....he was still way ahead of his peers.

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