Back to: Early Childhood Care and Education B.ed Notes, IGNOU Notes, M.A Notes, Graduation Notes
The origin and development of preschool education in the USA.
Johnson, the president of the United States, developed the first preschool program. This half-day preschool program for low-income youngsters was developed in part with assistance from the federal government. It started as a summertime test program with an emphasis on teaching, food and exercise checks, and family support services.
In the US, early childhood education and care (ECEC) encompasses a broad array of elements, full-day, and comprehensive programs that fall under the instructional, welfare, and commercial umbrellas. These projects are offered and conveyed in a range of methods in both the public and private sectors, and their designs vary depending on whether they place more prominence on the “care” or “education” element of ECEC or give equal weight to both.
Characteristics of Early Childhood Education in America
The developmental domains that preschool education addresses differ from nation to nation. Nevertheless, the bulk of systems have the following main concepts.
- intellectual, interpersonal, and economic growth.
- Conversations include both speaking and listening.
- insight and knowledge of the world.
- evolution of aesthetic preferences
- physical improvement
- growth and understanding of mathematics.
Origin of Early Childhood Education in America
A minor enhancement in Head Start financing of about $9.3 billion was requested by the federal government. Approximately 861,000 children are expected to benefit from this incentive. Leading to a shortage of financing, the administration removed the requirement that the program begin serving kids for a longer day and school year. According to the Center for American Progress, President Trump and the House of Representatives supported significant cutbacks to programs meant to serve low-income households rather than address their needs by raising the minimum wage and providing paid vacation and affordable childcare. On November 19, 2021, the House of Representatives passed the Build Back Better Act. With the passage of this legislation, beginning teachers with a bachelor’s degree would get the same pay as their K–12 colleagues. Additionally, it mandates that childcare providers get a $15 hourly living wage.
History of Early Childhood Education in America
- Robert Owen founded the first baby school in New Harmony, Indiana, in 1825, introducing the infant school concept to the United States.
- German was the language of instruction when Margarethe Schurz opened the first kindergarten in Watertown, Wisconsin, in 1856.
- In Boston, Massachusetts, Elizabeth Peabody established the first English-speaking kindergarten in the United States in 1860.
- Johann Pestalozzi’s teaching techniques were adopted by the Educator Training Organization in 1861. Edward Sheldon founded it in Oswego, New York.
- Susan Blow established the country’s first public kindergarten in 1873 with the support of William T. Harris, the city of St. Louis’s commissioner of schools.
- G. Stanley Hall was the first American psychologist to extensively investigate young kids in 1880, and the results of his research strongly backed the idea that young children should attend kindergarten.
- The first structured nursery schools for early childhood opened in the United States in the 1920s. Arnold Gesell, Lois Meek (Stolz), Abigail Eliot, and other professionals were gathered by Patty Smith Hill to form the National Association for Nursery Education (NANE) in 1929.
- NANE was restructured in 1964 as the National Association for the Education of Young Children(NAEYC).
- America’s earliest publicly sponsored preschool program, Head Start, was established in 1965 by President Lyndon B. Johnson.
- The Child Development Associate Consortium developed the CDA certificate in 1971.
