"What Children Learn in Pre-K" tells the stories of five young children who had an opportunity that is still unavailable to millions of children in the U.S.: the opportunity to attend a high-quality pre-kindergarten program. We were privileged to follow Erika, Nataya, Cesar, William, and Gillian—as well as their classmates, family members, and teachers—for a full school year. We saw how quality pre-k helps all children prepare for success in school and in life, and through the short video below we want to share what we witnessed.
Please share this video with your family, friends, community leaders, and others! Four out of five young children in our country currently have no access to high-quality, state-funded pre-k. These children need strong advocates like you to make voluntary pre-k for all a priority for local, state, and federal policymakers.
Suggestions for Using The Video
We know it can be difficult to explain with just words how high-quality pre-k benefits all children. So, we packed a year's worth of real pre-k learning into this video. While we couldn't possibly show every skill acquired, experience gained, or best practice used, "What Children Learn in Pre-K" is a great tool to start conversations about expanding pre-k access and raising pre-k quality. Below are suggestions for using this video in your advocacy efforts.
(Note: For all of the events suggested, we recommend that you gather, in advance, the latest facts on pre-k programs in your community or state. The video is sure to provoke some detailed questions about the pre-k landscape in your area. You may even find it worthwhile to lay out the local facts for the audience before showing the video.)
Using the video with community leaders and lawmakers
Many policymakers have never been in a high-quality pre-k classroom, so you could:
Organize pre-k briefings or one-on-one meetings at the state capitol or city hall and use the video to frame the discussion. You can draw the audience's attention to specific skills the children are building or to classroom quality elements such as how the teacher interacts with the children.
Invite policymakers to visit pre-k centers and, after a tour, use the video to illustrate some of the gains that the children they've just met will make during the year.
A variation on this idea: If you do not have quality pre-k centers in your area, you could take policymakers on a tour of existing early childhood programs and use the video to illustrate the quality improvements needed.
Using the video with parents
Some parents are unaware of the full range of benefits from quality pre-k education, while others are unsure of how to tell if a program is high quality. You could:
Host a forum for parents and use the video to:
Emphasize the benefits children receive.
Point out key quality factors that parents should look for when choosing a pre-k center.
Using the video with educators
As new pre-k programs are established and existing ones undergo changes, educators in both public and private settings should have access to planning information and opportunities to provide feedback. You could:
Organize meetings with or between different groups in the early childhood field and use the video to stimulate honest dialogue about common ground and unique challenges.
Organize meetings with representatives from early childhood programs, K-12 schools, and post-secondary education and use the video to frame discussion of the cooperation and support needed from all of these players to implement quality pre-k.
These ideas are just the tip of the iceberg, of course, and we would welcome reports on how you have used the video. Please share your thoughts by sending email to mmulkey@preknow.org.
Pre-K Now held a briefing for congressional staff, cosponsored by Sen. Hillary Clinton and Sen. Kit Bond, on October 1. Hear what a governor, three superintendents, two directors of early childhood programs, and a national teacher of the year think Congress should do to increase families' access to quality, state-funded pre-k.
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What Children Learn in Pre-K
