Raising the bar for early education

The importance of high quality early childhood education is undisputed. Countless studies and analysis reach the same conclusions: a positive and effective intervention in the brain’s formative years, namely before age 5, have enduring and lasting effects promoting learning, curiosity and sparking what will become the creative mind. The Center on the Developing Child of Harvard University indicates: “Healthy development in the early years provides the building blocks for educational achievement, economic productivity, responsible citizenship, lifelong health, strong communities, and successful parenting of the next generation.”

The research of University of Chicago professor James Heckman, a Nobel Prize winner in Economics, puts it in financial terms: “The highest rate of return in early childhood development comes from investing as early as possible, from birth through age five, in disadvantaged families. Starting at age three or four is too little too late, as it fails to recognize that skills beget skills in a complementary and dynamic way. Efforts should focus on the first years for the greatest efficiency and effectiveness. The best investment is in quality early childhood development from birth to five for disadvantaged children and their families.”

All studies and conclusions however pivot on an important and sometimes overlooked issue: the key is quality. Early childhood education, given its lifelong importance, should be treated as one of the most important and critical forms of education to the young individual, however, in many cases this intervention is confused with poorly structured child care. Further, for better or for worse, the early childhood experiences do have a lasting impact on us, and improper forms of interaction on the early years could do more harm than good.

During 2012 the largest educational community in the world, AdvancED –a worldwide leader in advancing education excellence through accreditation and school improvement- decided to address early education as the important activity that it is, creating a new set of standards that would establish minimal requirements for early education providers. The goal was to identify critical areas and monitor and audit providers to assure, through an accreditation process, the high quality of the education that the child receives. This same process is utilized by AdvancED and its accreditation divisions -the North Central Association Commission on Accreditation and School Improvement (NCA CASI), the Northwest Accreditation Commission (NWAC), and the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Council on Accreditation and School Improvement (SACS CASI)- to accredit thousands of teaching institutions, including the University of Virginia, Vanderbilt University and Duke University amongst many others.

To write this new set of standards AdvancED partnered with a leading provider of high quality early education and child care, Primrose Schools. Primrose Schools, which operates over 250 schools across the United States through a franchising model, follows a strict and detailed curriculum and system developed internally by its Education Department in consultation with early childhood education experts and other professionals, including nutritionists and physical development specialists. Claudia Carter, vice president for accreditation for AdvancED, indicated: “we chose to partner with Primrose Schools because of its long-standing history of leadership, quality delivery of early childhood education and strong systems approach. The new AdvancED Standards for Quality Early Learning Schools will be the highest-level accreditation institutions can achieve within the early learning arena.”

The new AdvancED Standards for Quality Early Learning Schools, which are already being implemented by a few institutions across the country, outline best practices for the education of young children, including:

• Use of developmentally appropriate practices

• Focus on learning, growth and development

• Focus on cognitive, emotional, social, creative and physical growth and development

• Relationships between young children, staff and parents

• Preservation of the child’s dignity in care routines

• Health and safety in facilities, space and activities

• Respect for self and others

In January 2013, the Primrose School of Ashburn became the first early learning school in Northern Virginia to be accredited by AdvancED SACS CASI under the new Standards for Quality Early Learning Schools, thus dramatically raising the bar for comprehensive, quality education during the most important formative years.

Recognizing that with the proper intervention early in life we can make a positive and lasting impact in the lives of a new generation, by providing the highest quality education possible to our youngest, may prove to be the most valuable legacy that we leave to our children, for their own benefit and for the future of all of society.

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For additional information on AdvancED Standards for Quality Early Learning Schools, visit www.advanc-ed.org/webfm_send/362

For additional information about the Primrose School of Ashburn, call them at 703.724.9050, or visit www.PrimroseAshburn.com