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Education Writers
Kindergarten teachers know the story; they may be your best, direct source about the benefits of effective pre-k programs. Contact Deborah Kong at Preschool California to find a teacher in your area. Visit local kindergarten classrooms at the beginning of the school year for a firsthand look at the widely differing abilities of children as they enter school.
Ask them:
- What proportion of their students have been to preschool?
- Does preschool make a difference for children in kindergarten and later school years?
- Does it make a particular difference with English language learners and other children with special needs?
- What happens in the classroom when a high proportion of children aren’t ready to start strong?
- Would our K-12 system become stronger if more children had the chance to go to effective preschool programs?
- Preschool California can also assist you in finding local kindergarten classrooms, and quality preschools, to visit.
Visit our Media Coverage page to read the 2003 Sacramento Bee series of editorials that grew out of the author’s repeat visits to kindergarten classrooms.
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Political Writers
- Why invest in preschool, and why now?
- What has the legislature accomplished recently on preschool? Go to our State Efforts page.
- How does California stack up against other states on preschool availability and program quality? Check out our National Efforts page.
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Business Writers
- Why do business people care about preschool opportunity?
- Does preschool availability impact the quality of the workforce?
- Does it affect a community’s quality of life, and its desirability for valued employees?
- What do economists say about preschool’s return on investment?
- Is preschool economic development?
- Are California business leaders concerned about competitive advantages for other states and countries that have invested in preschool opportunity for all?
Where to start:
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Crime Writers
- Does preschool prevent crime?
- Why are so many police chiefs, sheriffs and district attorneys in California taking up the preschool mantle?
Where to start:
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Consumer Writers
- How do parents choose preschools?
- How discriminating are they about quality?
- What tools are out there to help parents make a good decision?
- What questions should they ask providers to discern whether their children are getting what they need?
- What’s the going rate for private preschool in your area?
- What proportion of the take-home pay of a median-income family does preschool tuition represent?
- How does private preschool tuition compare to fees at your local California State University campus?
- How many eligible low-income children are waiting in line for a preschool slot in your area?
Where to start:
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Feature/Family Writers
- Does your region have a preschool teacher of the year?
- While K-12 teachers who achieve this designation are often recognized in newspaper articles, preschool teachers often do their good and essential work outside the spotlight. They are the unsung heroes in education. Find one who has stuck with it despite the often low pay, shadow her for a day and discover the rewards of helping 4 year olds have fun while they build learning and social skills.
- Preschool California can help.
Science Writers
- What has the last 20 years taught us about children’s brain development?
- Given what we’ve learned about brain development, when is the optimal time to invest in education?
Where to start:
- Read From Neurons to Neighborhoods: The Science of Early Childhood Development.
This authoritative yet accessible book presents the newest evidence about early brain development and how children learn to speak, think, get along with others, and regulate their behavior. It examines the effect of the surrounding context-family, child care, community-within which the child grows. One of the editors of the book, University of California, Davis, Professor Ross Thompson is gifted at translating the research for a lay audience. Ross Thompson is featured on our Media Experts page. Read his July 2005 interview in the Sacramento Bee.
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Food Writers
- Is it possible to get 4 year olds to eat well?
Where to Start:
- Good preschool programs manage to do it, without the kitchen-table food battles familiar to so many parents. Snack and lunch time is often a highlight of the day at preschool, because it offers the chance to taste something good, socialize with 4-year-old friends in a family meal setting, and – best of all – serve themselves.
- Good preschools involve children in snack making, to work on fine motor skills, group play and following directions. A few – like Hand in Hand Child Development Center in Sacramento -- publish cookbooks so that parents can make at home the food their children have learned to love at school.
- Think edible peanut-butter playdough, moon rocks, “worms and dirt” (crushed graham crackers, cream cheese and gummy worms) and spinach-cheese casserole that little kids will actually eat.
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