The basic foundation of the human brain is created during the prenatal period and the first few years of life. During this time the brain has its greatest potential for learning; however, it is also at its most vulnerable stage. When the child is exposed to child care staff that does not have a very good understanding of early childhood brain development, including specific training to support social and emotional development, that child’s brain is less likely to develop optimally. If the child comes from an environment that is considered at risk, it is even more essential that the staff be highly trained in early developmental issues. While the brain, responding to all environmental experiences especially in the earlier years of life, can be modified fairly easily (for better or for worse), it may never be possible for it to return to what should have been its optimal state had bad experiences not occurred. However, highly trained teachers can support the child’s development and obtain the best results possible under the circumstances. One is not likely to get these results without a qualified teacher and a quality teaching environment.
The bills being considered by the legislature appear designed purely and simply to get more children now on a waiting list into a child care setting, making it easier for a parent to work. However, by reducing standards, allowing possible ineffective curricula, not allowing screening to identify children who need additional supports and not giving parents the ability to recognize centers which are doing more than just meeting minimal standards of care, the legislature risks putting many of our youngest citizens at serious risk. Perhaps people are unaware that licensure by the state to run a center, small or large, is not based on quality. Without quality rating systems we already know that most parents are likely to pick a place based on its being close to them or being inexpensive (this type of inexpensiveness can cost more than a family or our society should ever have to pay.)
The just-passed bill will have a significant economic impact, though perhaps not quite what the authors were considering.
Approximately 30% of Florida’s children entering kindergarten are already at a lower level of readiness than their peers. Unfortunately, this is likely to worsen each year thereafter.
As if this isn’t bad enough with its short-term fiscal impact, Florida also has a close to 30% high school dropout rate. If legislators truly want to have a significant impact on this state’s economy and financial state as well as Florida’s future, they will do whatever is necessary to overcome these statistics.
The short-term impact is related to the extra resources that often must be brought to bear to help the children who are beginning behind the eight ball as well as to costs associated with some children having to repeat one or more grades. Long-term we deal with students who drop out of high school. They may have been held back before dropping out, but, whether held back or not, they are far more likely to experience negative outcomes, including being unable to get a meaningful job with a living wage and chance for advancement.
There is a strong likelihood that these failures had their beginning in the years prior to entry into kindergarten, and a major concern points to these children not having been exposed to either parenting or child care experiences based upon the remarkable increase in understanding early childhood brain development.
Unfortunately, teachers who do not have the appropriate background may give up on the child leading to his or her dismissal from the center. Also unfortunately, studies have revealed that faith-based, private or community-based non-profit centers are more likely to expel a preschool student than those in public school settings or Head Start. One can see that this would bias any long-term measurements of value.
Childhood and education during childhood are ongoing processes during which the brain continues its development, building upon the foundation created during those early years. It makes no sense to focus only on a limited age group, for example zero to five, then ignore six to ten or vice versa. If the foundation is flawed, that which follows is less likely to be optimally functional. At the same time, even with a good foundation, if following experiences of the child are inadequate or inappropriate for learning, the effect on the brain will also be less than desired.
There appears to be a feeling that we are loaded in this state and in this country with high quality early care and education centers. It has not been so long ago that research nationally revealed this belief to be terribly incorrect. Over the past 12 or 13 years there has indeed been improvement in many centers in parts of Florida, so that the children within those centers are truly receiving care which also helps them learn, not just being in a glorified baby-sitting service. The bills being discussed will take us back to what might well be described as the Dark Ages of ineffective brain stimulation during that period of a child’s life that is so critical in determining whether the individual will succeed or fail in school and/or in life.
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