User:Abbimarie567/Early childhood education in the United States

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Early childhood education in the United States relates to the teaching of children (formally and informally) from birth up to the age of eight. The education services are delivered via preschools, kindergartens, child care centers, and family child care homes

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During World War II and the industrial revaluation the United States implemented a large, well-funded childcare system in order to help mothers join the workforce to support the war effort. The system supported families of all incomes, and the government paid approximately two-thirds of the costs, with parents covering the rest (at a rate of about $9 or $10 a day in today's dollars). These childcare services were set up in factories, churches, and private homes. These programs were very popular, and research demonstrates that, in addition to helping families during the war, adults who participated in the system as children were employed at greater rates, earned more money, and were less liable to require cash assistance than their peers who did not participate. Children from low-income families realized these positive effects of participation even more than their better-off peers. Additionally in 1926 the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) was established with he overall mission to improve the well-being of all the young children in the world focused on quality of education and developmental services for young children around the world. The establishment of this national association pushed the early education intuitive as well in the United States. Additionally in 1965, the Head Start program was founded through the United States Department of Health and Human Services as a program to ready low-income children over the summer months for upcoming kindergarten. Over the years, the program has evolved and is a respected preschool aged program within many communities, working with children of all backgrounds and abilities.

Since 2010, there has finally been a national push for state and federal policy to address the early years as a key component of public education. At the federal level, in 2013 the Obama administration made the Race to the Top Early Learning Challenge a key tenet of their education reform initiative, awarding $500 million to states with comprehensive early childhood education plans. According to the United States Department of Education, this program focuses on "improving early learning and development programs for young children by supporting States' efforts to: (1) increase the number and percentage of low-income and disadvantaged children in each age group of infants, toddlers, and preschoolers who are enrolled in high-quality early learning programs; (2) design and implement an integrated system of high-quality early learning programs and services; and (3) ensure that any use of assessments conforms with the recommendations of the National Research Council's reports on early childhood." This program was called the The Preschool for All initiative. In addition, a largely Democratic contingent sponsored the Strong Start for America's Children Act in 2013, which provides free early childhood education for low-income families. Specifically, the Act would generate the impetus and support for states to expand ECE; provide funding through formula grants and Title II (Learning Quality Partnerships), III (Child Care) and IV (Maternal, Infant and Home Visiting) funds; and hold participating states accountable for Head Start early learning standards.

To this day one of America's larger challenges regarding Early Childhood Education is a dearth in workforce, partly due to low compensation for rigorous work. The average early childhood teaching assistant earns an annual salary of less then $25,000 with little to no benefits, while the poverty line for one person in the United States is only $10,000 bellow that salary. The turnover of ECE staff averages 31% per year. Another challenge is to ensure the quality of ECE programs. Because ECE is a relatively new field, there is little research and consensus into what makes a good program. However, the National Association of the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) is a national organization that has identified evidence-based ECE standards and accredits quality programs. Continuing the leadership role it established with the Common Core, the federal government could play a key role in establishing ECE standards for states. We also are having an unfair advantage to the children who can afford early education programs to the children that are in poverty and can not afford it.

The federal government called for a minimal increase in Head Start funding with approximately $9.3 billion for said program. This subsidy is estimated to serve around 861,000 kids. However, the administration withdrew the requirement that such program started serving children for a longer day and school year due to insufficient funding. The Center for American Progress said President Trump and the House of Representatives advocated deep cuts in programs that were supposed to help impoverished families rather than attend to the needs of low and middle-income households through paid leave and child care as well as increasing minimum wage. More recently the Build Back Better Act was passed by the House of Representatives on November 19, 2021. This act would give early educators with a bachelors degree the same compensation as their K-12 counterparts. It also requires that childcare workers get paid a living wage of $15.

Unlike other areas of education, early childhood care and education (ECCE) places a strong emphasis on the development of the whole child – attending to his or her social, emotional, cognitive, and physical needs – in order to establish a solid and broad foundation for lifelong learning and well-being. "Care" includes health, nutrition, and hygiene in a warm, secure, and nurturing environment, and "education" includes stimulation, socialization, guidance, participation, learning, and developmental activities. Most of these ECCE programs have an emphasis on learning by play. ECCE begins at birth and can be organized in a variety of non-formal, formal and informal modalities, such as parenting education, health-based mother and child intervention, care institutions, child-to-child programs , home-based or center-based [Child care|childcare], kindergartens and pre-schools. The whole goal of ECCE programs is to prepare the children for school, and many professionals believe this starts in the crib till the child is in school. Different terms to describe ECCE are used by different countries, institutions, and stakeholders, such as early childhood development (ECD), early childhood education and care (ECEC), and early childhood care and development (ECCD), with Early Childhood Care and Education as the nomenclature.

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References

Bonnay, S. F. (2022, February 23). History of early childhood education: Then and now. HiMama Blog - Resources for Daycare Centers. Retrieved April 15, 2022, from https://www.himama.com/blog/early-childhood-education-then-and-now/

Gould, E., Whitebook, M., Mokhiber, Z., & Austin, L. J. E. (2020, January 15). Early child care and education in the States. Economic Policy Institute. Retrieved April 15, 2022, from https://www.epi.org/publication/ece-in-the-states/

Kamerman, S. B., & Gatenio-Gabel, S. (2015, February 20). Early childhood education and care in the United States: An overview of the current policy picture - International Journal of Child Care and Education policy. SpringerOpen. Retrieved April 15, 2022, from https://ijccep.springeropen.com/articles/10.1007/2288-6729-1-1-23#Sec8

United States. Early Childhood Education. (n.d.). Retrieved April 15, 2022, from http://earlychildhoodusandfrance.weebly.com/united-states.html?c=mkt_w_chnl%3Aaff_geo%3Aall_prtnr%3Asas_subprtnr%3A742098_camp%3Abrand_adtype%3Atxtlnk_ag%3Aweebly_lptype%3Ahp_var%3A358504&sscid=51k6_20hk0