Thursday, December 21, 2006
Is preschool better than home care?
The big debate has always been which is better at preparing a child for school? A preschool program or stay-at-home parenting... A new study shows findings that a quality program is better able to prepare children for kindergarten. Keep in mind that the key words here are "quality program".
Preschool better than home for children, study finds
Published: Tuesday, December 05, 2006
Gives youngsters step up in math, reading
Sarah Schmidt, The Ottawa CitizenPreschool is better preparation for kindergarten than the attention of a stay-at-home-mom, new research shows.
The national study in the United States found children who attend preschool enter public schools with higher levels of academic skills than their peers who experienced other types of child care, including from stay-at-home parents, relatives and babysitters. And the advantage in reading and math persists through Grade 3 unless children are placed in small classes with high levels of reading instruction.
"The key is you really have to look at what happens at home versus what happens at preschool or centre-based care," lead author Katherine Magnuson of the University of Wisconsin at Madison, said.
"A lot of centres in the past 10 years have adopted an early education curriculum," she said. "While it's true parents can give one-on-one attention, they also run errands, talk to their friends, put them in front of the television."
The study, to be published in the forthcoming edition of Early Childhood Research Quarterly, assessed the skills of a national sample of 7,748 children who entered school in 1998. The researchers then tested their academic progress in math and reading in the spring of Grades 1 and 3.
Read the rest of the article...
