Competing Visions.COMPETING VISIONS. Haskins, R., Education Next, 2004, Winter, 30-33. This article compares Head Start as founded during Lyndon Johnson's War on Poverty to George W. Bush's new mission for the preschool program, known as Good Start, Grow Smart. The newer program represents a shift from the comprehensive service model to an intellectual development model. Historically, Head Start has emphasized only education and socialization socialization /so·cial·iza·tion/ (so?shal-i-za´shun) the process by which society integrates the individual and the individual learns to behave in socially acceptable ways. so·cial·i·za·tion n. . It gives disadvantaged children access to nutritional, health, and social services social services Noun, pl welfare services provided by local authorities or a state agency for people with particular social needs social services npl → servicios mpl sociales . The Good Start, Grow Smart initiative would retrain re·train tr. & intr.v. re·trained, re·train·ing, re·trains To train or undergo training again. re·train teachers in methods of improving school readiness and assess children's learning in literacy, language, and numeracy numeracy Mathematical literacy Neurology The ability to understand mathematical concepts, perform calculations and interpret and use statistical information. Cf Acalculia. . The Good Start, Grow Smart initiative grew out of mounting evidence that Head Start was not adequately preparing children for success in school. "For too long, Head Start has been merrily rolling along, enjoying ever more generous increases in funding, without demonstrating its value" (p. 33). The Good Start, Grow Smart Program's most important goal is school readiness, an outcome that some believe is easily measured. Bush's proposal would transfer control of Head Start from the federal government to state governments. Each state would have the opportunity to structure Head Start and control preschool funding. One stipulation is that the state must agree to make school readiness the first priority of its program. The question is whether gaining this control will motivate states to build comprehensive, high-quality preschool programs. Pilot programs will be conducted by a maximum of eight states. Educators and policymakers should study the outcomes of these pilot programs to determine future plans. "The greatest challenge may come when even the overhaul of Head Start fails to change things much, as I expect it may," says the author (p. 33). What happens to preschool education preschool education: see kindergarten; nursery school. preschool education Childhood education during the period from infancy to age five or six. Institutions for preschool education vary widely around the world, as do their names (e.g. if this program does not produce long-term gains? Will states do what the federal government has not done, such as hire preschool teachers with college degrees to replace parents and poorly paid staff who currently work in Head Start? Reviewed by Mitsy Wilbourne, doctoral student in early childhood education, University of Alabama at Birmingham UAB began in 1936 as the Birmingham Extension Center of the University of Alabama. Because of the rapid growth of the Birmingham area, it was decided that an extension program for students who had difficulties which prevented them from studying in Tuscaloosa was needed. . Reference Brosterman, N. (1997), Inventing kindergarten. New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of : Harry N. Abrams. |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion