Skip to main content

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
Cancel
×
×
Home
  • Home
Chapter
  • Print publication year: 2006
  • Online publication date: June 2012

10 - What the School of the 21st Century Can Teach Us about Universal Preschool

Export citation
Summary

A long-standing problem in the early childhood field is that there is no cohesive delivery system in place for preschool and child care services. Rather, we have a mix of fragmented services, some providing part-day preschool to four-year-olds, others providing all-day, year-round child care for children whose parents are working. Multiple funding streams support the programs, and a variety of institutional contexts exists – public schools, nonprofit and for-profit centers, churches, and community-based organizations – as well as licensed and unlicensed individual child care providers. Of significance is the general lack of quality that characterizes this nonsystem. Hence large numbers of preschool children attend programs that are of poor or mediocre quality, which has consequences for their healthy growth and development as well as their school readiness.

Universal preschool has the potential to create a better and more equitable early care and education system. Many issues have to be addressed about the governance, structure, and scope of a proposed system. In this chapter we discuss our experiences with the development and implementation of a universal school-based program known as the School of the 21st Century (21C). In some communities in Kentucky and Connecticut, the program is referred to as the Family Resource Center. 21C is a comprehensive program that includes, in addition to other components, universally accessible child care for preschoolers.

Recommend this book

Email your librarian or administrator to recommend adding this book to your organisation's collection.

A Vision for Universal Preschool Education
  • Online ISBN: 9781139167284
  • Book DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139167284
Please enter your name
Please enter a valid email address
Who would you like to send this to *

CAPTCHA *

Skip to the audio challenge
×
References
Bailey, D. (2002). What can universal prekindergarten learn from special education? New York: Foundation for Child Development.
Barnett, W. S., Finn-Stevenson, M., & Henrich, C. (2003, March). From visions to systems of universal preschool. Paper presented at the conference on child development and social policy: Knowledge to action festschrift in honor of Edward Zigler, Washington, DC.
Berends, M., Kirby, S., Naftel, S., & McKelvey, C. (2001). Implementation and performance in new American schools: Three years into scale up. Santa Monica, CA: Rand.
Bowman, B. (1997). New directions in higher education. In Bowman, B. (Ed.), Leadership in early care and education (pp. 107–114). Washington, DC: National Association for the Education of Young Children.
Brauner, J., Gordic, B., & Zigler, E. (2004). Putting the child back into child care. Social Policy Report, 18(3).
Bush Center in Child Development and Social Policy. (1995). The role of the teacher in the School of the 21st Century. New Haven, CT: Author.
Cost, Quality and Child Outcomes Study Team. (1999). The children of the cost, quality and outcomes study go to school. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina, Frank Porter Graham Child Development Center.
Dryfoos, J. (1994). Full service schools. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Duncan, G., & Brooks-Gunn, J. (1997). Consequences of growing up poor. New York: Russell Sage.
Dwyer, C. M., Chait, R., & McKee, P. (2000). Building strong foundations for early learning: The U.S. Department of Education's guide to high quality early childhood programs. Washington, DC: Education Publications Center.
Education Commission of the States. (1999). A promising approach for today's schools. Comprehensive School Reform, 1(3), 1–7.
Elias, M. (1997). Reinterpreting dissemination of prevention programs as widespread implementation with effectiveness and fidelity. In Weissberg, R., Gullotta, T., Hampton, R., Ryan, B., & Adams, G. (Eds.), Establishing preventive services (pp. 283–289). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Elmore, R. (2000). Building new structures for school leadership. Washington, DC: Albert Shanker Institute.
Finn-Stevenson, M., Linkins, K., & Beacom, E. (1992). The School of the 21st Century: Creating opportunities for school-based child care. Child and Youth Care Forum, 21(5), 335–345.
Finn-Stevenson, M., & Zigler, E. F. (1999). Schools of the 21st Century: Linking child care and education. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.
Fix, M., & Passel, J. (2003, January 28–29). U.S. immigration – trends and implications for schools. Paper presented at the National Association for Bilingual Education NCLB Implementation Institute, New Orleans.
Fullan, M. G. (1992). Successful school improvement. The implementation perspective and beyond. Philadelphia: Open University Press.
Fullan, M. G. (2001). The new meaning of educational change. New York: Teachers College Press.
Galinsky, E., Howes, C., Kontos, S., & Shinn, M. B. (1994). The study of children in family child care and relative care. New York: Families and Work Institute.
Gallagher, J., Rooney, R., & Campbell, S. (1999). Child care licensing and regulations and child care quality in four states. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 14, 313–333.
Greenberg, M., & Schumacher, R. (2003). Financing universal pre-kindergarten: Possibilities and technical issues for states in using funds under the Child Care and Development Block Grant and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Block Grant. Paper commissioned by The Pew Charitable Trusts. Washington, DC: Center for Law and Policy.
Helburn, S. (Ed.). (1995). Cost quality and child outcomes in child care centers: Technical report. Denver, CO: Center for Research in Economic and Social Policy, University of Colorado.
Helburn, S., & Bergmann, B. (2002). America's child care problems: The way out. New York: Pelgrade.
Henrich, C., Finn-Stevenson, M., & Zigler, E. (in progress). Quality in 21C schools.
Hinkle, D. (2000). Schools' involvement in early childhood. Washington, DC:U.S. Department of Education.
Huberman, M. (1992). Critical introduction. In Fullan, M. (Ed.), Successful school improvement (pp. 1–20). Philadelphia: Open University Press.
Jehl, J., & Kirst, M. (1992). Getting ready to provide school-liked services: What schools must do. The Future of Children, 2(1), 95–106.
Kirby, S., Berends, M., & Naftel, S. (2001). Implementation in a longitudinal sample of new American schools. Santa Monica, CA: Rand.
LeMoines, S., Morgan, G., & Azer, S. (2003). A snapshot of trends in child care licensing regulations. Child Care Bulletin, 28, 1–5.
Levine, J. (1978). Day care and the public schools: Profiles of five communities. Newton, MA: Education Development Center.
Marsland, K., Zigler, E., & Martinez, A. (2004). Regulation of infant and toddler child care: Are state requirements for centers adequate? Yale University, New Haven, CT. Unpublished manuscript.
Martin, M. (2003). Making the difference: Research and practice in community schools. Washington, DC: National Coalition of Community Schools.
Mintrom, M. (2001). Achieving quality in early childhood education for all: Insights from the policy innovation diffusion research. New York: Foundation for Child Development.
Mitchell, A. (1988). The public schools early childhood studies: The district survey. New York: Bank Street College of Education.
National Center for Children in Poverty. (2003). Low income children in the United States. New York: Author.
National Center for Education Statistics. (2003). Pre-kindergarten in U.S. public schools, 2000–2001. Washington, DC: Author.
National Research Council. (2002). Community programs to promote youth development. Washington, DC: Author.
Pfannenstiel, J., Lambson, T., & Yarnell, V. (1996). The Parents as Teachers Program: Longitudinal follow-up to the second wave study. Overland Park, KS: Research & Training Associates.
Phillips, D. (1987). Predictors of quality in child care. Written testimony, Committee on Education. Washington, DC: National Association for the Education of Young Children.
Porch, S. (2002, Spring). Early childhood education issues. Educational Research Service Spectrum, 20, 2, 4–11.
Putnam, R. D. (1995). Bowling alone: America's defining social capital. Journal of Democracy, 6, 65–78.
Queralt, M., & Witte, A. (1998). Influences on neighborhood supply of child care. Social Service Review, 72(1), 17–47.
Raden, A. (1999). Universal pre-kindergarten in Georgia: A case study of Georgia's lottery-funded pre-K programs. New York: Foundation for Child Development.
Reynolds, A. J. (2000). The added value of continuing early intervention into the primary grades. CEIC Review, 9(3), 16–18.
Schilder, D., Kiron, E., & Elliott, K. (2003). Early care and education partnerships: State actions and local lessons. Cambridge, MA: EDC.
Shonkoff, J., & Phillips, D. (2000). From neurons to neighborhoods. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.
Slavin, R. (2003, March 5). Converging reforms. Changing schools? Changing districts? How the two approaches can work together. Education Week, p. 64.
Slavin, R., Dolan, L., & Madden, N. (1994). Scaling-up: Lessons learned in the dissemination of Success for All. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University, Center for Research on the Education of Students Placed at Risk.
Ucelli, M. (2001). From school improvement to systems reforms. New York: Rockefeller Foundation.
U.S. Census Bureau. (1997). Who is minding preschoolers? Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Commerce.
U.S. Census Bureau. (2000). Families and living arrangements. Washington, DC: U.S. Labor Department, Census Bureau.
U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. (1999). Safety hazards in child care settings. Washington, DC: Author.
Vinson, T., Baldry, E., & Hargreaves, J. (1996). Neighborhoods, networks and child abuse. British Journal of Social Work, 26, 523–543.
Young, K. T., Marsland, K. W., & Zigler, E. (1997). Regulatory status of center-based infant and toddler child care. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 67, 535–544.
Zigler, E. (1987, October). A solution to the nation's child care crisis: The School of the Twenty-first Century. In Investing in the beginning (pp. 27–33). Conference report. St. Louis: Parents as Teachers National Center.
Zigler, E., & Finn-Stevenson, M. (1996). Funding child care and public education. The Future of Children, 6(2), 104–121.
Zigler, E., Finn-Stevenson, M., & Hall, N. (2002). The first three years and beyond: Brain development and social policy. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
Zigler, E., Singer, D. G., & Bishop-Josef, S. (Eds.). (2004). Children's play: The roots of reading. Washington, DC: Zero to Three Press.
Cancel
Confirm
×