Closing the Achievement Gap: Preschool/Early Childhood Education

What is Early Childhood Education and why is it important? According to Harvard University’s Center for the Developing Child, “Healthy development in the early years (particularly birth to three) provides the building blocks for educational achievement, economic productivity, responsible citizenship, lifelong health, strong communities, and successful parenting of the next generation.”

Studies have shown that from birth to age five, a child’s brain develops more rapidly than at any other time in life. A child’s experiences in these years certainly affect how the brain develops. Knowing this then, it is imperative to understand child development and to learn how to support children and their families during these critical years.

Shaker Library has been serving families and children since 1937, and the Children’s Rooms at both Main Library and Bertram Woods are exciting, busy places to visit. In addition to a wide assortment of books, music, and movies, there are play areas with puzzles and educational toys and child-sized tables and chairs where young visitors can read, color, or study.

The Library and Family Connections offer the Play and Learn Station, a unique, free opportunity for parents, caregivers, and their children to play and learn together. Located on the Main Library second floor and supervised by preschool teachers, this early literacy playroom offers hands-on, interactive opportunities for parents and caregivers to explore with their children, ages birth to age five.

Storytimes, book-themed and music programs, along with arts, crafts, and STEAM programs are offered by welcoming children’s staff who are ready to help open the book on a lifetime of learning for young people.

What better place for a forum on early childhood literacy than the Library? With that in mind, the Library and the League of Women Voters/Shaker Heights Chapter will take a local look at early education at 7 pm Thursday, January 30 when they present Closing the Achievement Gap: Preschool and Early Child Education Forum at Shaker Library.

The Forum is an opportunity for the public to engage with experts who will discuss the difference early childhood education makes and provide information about the Shaker Schools’ PreK plans. The forum will be moderated by Sharon Broussard, Former editorial writer, The Plain Dealer/Cleveland.com and will include panelists: Rebekah Dorman, Director, Cuyahoga County Office of Early Childhood/Invest in Children; Billie Osborne Fears, Executive Director, Starting Point; Beth Price, Executive Director Early Childhood Enrichment Center and Dr. Marla Robinson, Chief Academic Officer, Shaker Heights City Schools.

For Further Reading
Since 2002, the National Institute for Early Education Research, a unit of Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, has tracked state-funded preschool access, resources, and quality. Read the 16th edition of NIEER’s annual tracking, State of Preschool 2018.

Ohio Department of Education’s Tiered Quality Rating and Improvement System for early childhood education, Step Up To Quality.