First Steps: Beginning Your Preschool Search

Buzz, buzz.

What's that? It's the sound of your friends, neighbors and colleagues telling you which preschool is right for your child, bemoaning the impossible admissions at the "best" preschools (sharpen your elbows), and warning of others to avoid at all costs. Egads, what's a parent to do? Know this: there are most likely several preschools where your child would fare well in your area. This article and The Savvy Source will help you find them.

Is it worth the effort to make a thoughtful preschool choice? We think so, and a host of research backs up the notion. The mere process of considering alternatives will make you a better partner with your child's preschool. Here some more factoids to keep in mind:

• Research indicates that a child's learning dvelopment at the end of preschool predicts the learning trajectory into adulthood. Don't panic. Many parents can offer their children an awful lot of developmental experiences at home and elsewhere outside of preschool. So even if your child cannot secure a slot in your top-choice preschool, you can ensure that your child is prepared for a lifetime of learning and joy by understanding your child's needs.



• That said, it's easy to fall back on "what really matters is what the child gets at home." But that's in the absence of a great preschool and, later, great elementary and secondary schools. And let's face it: there's a lot of mediocre out there. If you're reading this, we suspect that you want more than competent babysitting from a preschool.



• Popular preschools are not always great. Sad but true, popular schools can get complacent. Preschools with parents falling all over themselves to get in the door do not have a great incentive to be even more popular. Some, but not all, become popular because they are high quality. But once popular, it's just a little harder for a school to keep working hard to be great. It's preschools that work extremely hard to be good for your individual child that offer educational gold. Our message: don't fret if admission to the most popular preschools seems impossible. There's a good chance that there are other equally good - or even better - preschools available for your child.



• "Developmentally appropriate" education has two meanings. You'll hear that term a lot as you explore preschools. Done well, it means "appropriate for typical developmental needs, but flexible to meet individual needs of students in the classroom." Done with mediocrity, it means "one-size-fits-all based on an average development chart." This makes a huge difference if your child is atypical in any way.



• All kids and families are not created equal. We do not mean that from birth our little bundles aren't all bursting with potential. But as any mother of multiple children who are different from each other will tell you, there's more to dough than flour. Children's needs differ and so do parents' abilities to meet those needs. Preschools that do a better job of assessing each child's development, monitoring it throughout the year and adjusting the teaching and learning approach to meet those differing needs, are ones where individual children will make more progress. Are there other ingredients to preschool success? Absolutely. But this is one that flies right by most parents until a problem arises, so we emphasize it.



• What is taught and how it's taught are different. Not understanding the difference misleads many parents, and preschools for that matter, into thinking that some content (e.g., math) can be taught only with a worksheet and other content (e.g., cooperation with peers) can't be taught if ABCs are being learned too. Both are false assumptions. Even high quality preschools differ in what they aim for children to learn: some focus more on cognitive learning, others equally balance the core four developmental areas (social, emotional, physical, and cognitive) and others add foreign languages, music, etc. They also differ in how they teach it. Early math can be conveyed with structured, teacher-led activities and worksheets, and it can be conveyed with hands-on materials designed to teach step-by-step knowledge with little intervention by a teacher. There are good and bad (and a lot of mediocre) preschools that use different methods.



• Play is a critical ingredient of a great preschool experience - but not the only one. Free play (or "play-based") and teacher-lead (or "direct") instruction preschools produce on average similar short term cognitive learning. But research indicates that long-term social outcomes are far better for children who do some learning through play in preschool. That said, children who struggle cognitively fare better with more time spent on cognitive tasks and some teacher intervention to ensure understanding. Similarly, advanced children benefit socially and emotionally (and of course cognitively) from advanced cognitive activities; some may require more teacher instruction than is common in pure free play settings. So pure free play does not serve all children best all the time, but a substantial element of free play is crucial for a high quality preschool.