Early Childhood Education: 4K Kindergarten - Research Paper Example

Effectiveness of sc 4-k program This research is dedicated to find out clearly the benefits of having 4K kindergarten in South Carolina. These benefits are only witnessed in the districts which have already implemented the program. The research also centers in description of the 4K program which seems to have gone through a little bit complex process. In the description the steps followed before implementing the program are considered. The requirements are also captured in the research. Despite of being costly the 4K kindergarten drawing away big amount of state fund it has several advantages. The more the money spends in the program, the better the outcomes for the children. Learners who go through this form of kindergarten education tend to perform better in their both elementary and secondary level of education1. This implies that this program has much impact on learning in south Caroline. This is because it prepares the learners adequately for further education. INTRODUCTION 4K kindergarten program in South Carolina was an implemented plan for the children with the age of four years. This program was implemented by Sc general assembly. The registration of the children was free to the children who were trusted to do well in various districts of South Carolina. On top of the offering the country’s public school districts in the beginning offer guardian the chance to enroll their children with more than a hundred private and public preschool providers in the country. In this program for a child to qualify, he/she must have the age of four years, clear with free or decreased price. He or she must live in the following district in the Country, Sumter, Union, Saluda, Marion, Lee, Saluda, Florence, and Dillon among many more. This program would be extended to a full day kindergarten country wide. The total cost of the implementation of the program was a hundred million dollars upon estimation. However, this amount is only enough for one year. In the year 2010-2011, an estimated amount of $94.2 million from public money and $35. 6 million from the state was injected in the program. The program is also facilitated by the district’ parents as well as by teachers in the (P.A.T) program. This is operated through the office of parenting and family services. It hires a full time parent educator and part time parent educators in partnership with Lexington country first steps. This program seems helpful to the child’s education, through enhancing and encouraging education to the young toddlers the state is not able to cater for all the districts in the country. Due to this short coming, some districts in South Carolina have been left without the benefit. This means that they are lagging behind with the old fashion of education of plain elementally education or the primary schools. More benefits have been noted since the year 2006 which has been originating from the implemented program of 4K kindergarten. These benefits are discussed by the following essay. Research aims and objectives The main purpose of this study is to find out whether the implementation of the four-year-kindergarten program in schools can have any effect of the performance of students. The specific area of research is to find out whether the South Carolina elementary schools in school districts that have implemented the “4k” kindergarten perform better than the South Carolina elementary schools that have not implemented the program. The research question “Do South Carolina elementary schools in school districts that have implemented the “4k” kindergarten program perform better than those South Carolina elementary schools who have not received funding to implement this program? Literature review The 4k program is very vital for children development and success in academics. Different researches have documented the benefits of an early learning program for young children, the society and the community in large. According to these researches, it is very evident that nurturing environments with the best learning activities have strong impacts and effects on the success of children in school. It has also strong effects on the children’s ability to get along with the other children and grown ups as well as some effects on their emotional health. Schools that have adopted the 4k program have a better place for nurturing the emotional, physical and the social developments of their children. With the development of the 4K community program, it has been found out that children who need to be taken care of for at times when they are not enrolled for the 4K program can be taken to a children care program. This benefits the child in that, it reduces stress of transformations of being away from their home. According to a study conducted by the assistant director of instruction, the 4k community program enables young children to enroll into a four year old kindergarten in a known facility with consistent routines, rules and expectations. The 4K community program has its physical environment sites that are specifically designed for all four years old children. These environments provide the best atmosphere for nurturing children mental growth. In relation to this, it is very evident that children in the schools that have developed the 4K program perform better than children in schools the have not developed the program. The program provides literacy specialists that work one on one with children and assist the school stuff on the literacy related matters. The program has got numerous benefits for all young school children who are well prepared for leaning. The English language learners in the schools that have implemented the 4K program have an access to translators and can have the opportunity to support teachers in their community programs2. A 4K program offers meaningful opportunities for learning for all children of ages four years as well as promoting kindergarten readiness. Another study was based on the recognition that the quality of care and education that is offered to children in their early years is effective to their social, academic and emotional developments. There has presented empirical evidence that nurturing environments incorporated with appropriate learning activities demonstrate significant and lasting effects on the success of the child. This evidence indicates that inadequate early childhood preparation and care magnifies the likely hood that children may experience academic failures and grow up with some problematic behaviors that may eventually lead to bad lifestyles3. According to Jeffrey Williams, on his study on an empirical based statewide system for the identification of the quality pre-kindergarten programs, he early literacy focus on a child and its professional development are the key predictors of the outcome of a kindergarten. If a child is well prepared to join the kindergarten, it is very evident that his brains have been well sharpened and are incomparable to the ones of a child who have net had the same experience. Children in the 4K approach program benefit from the information shared from the teachers from the early childhood staff as well as from the public schools. This program has been found to be very beneficial in other areas like on conducting therapy for children while still in school. The ultimate goal of the schools that offer the four years old kindergarten programs have their ultimate goals in promoting a love of learning to children in a social setting4. The love of learning initiated through the program serves to lay a foundation for the successful school career of the child. Siegenthaler (2010) mentions prekindergarten centers as been community collaborative models. They build on the existing programs within the community. With district partnership, the South Carolina elementary school provides a consisted curriculum which incorporates the standards of early learning. The program is established to provide an improvement on all areas of learning as well as on the objects of learning. In the South Carolina, it ensures that all students acquire an education that gives the skills, knowledge and attitude required to succeed in careers or in colleges as productive members of the society5. In addition to that, the program provides all parents with an opportunity to select a school with the comparison of curriculum and environment that best fits the abilities and needs as well as the aspirations of their children. It provides schools that are lead by competitive head teachers and the effectiveness of the teachers. Methodology On conducting this research, the experimental research method was applicable for the research. This was aimed on relating student performance in the South Carolina elementary schools in school districts that have implemented the “4k” kindergarten and performances of students in schools that have not implemented the program. The performance of students is very comparable with accordance to the implementation of the 4K program. This program is found to be an effective one to the performance of children both in schools and within the society. The South Carolina elementary schools in school districts that have implemented the “4k” kindergarten perform better than the South Carolina schools that have not implemented the program. Findings Data collections including direct assessment on early academic skills in children took place as well as on their progress after the prekindergarten program. After the implementation of the program, South Carolina 4k children were above the national average on eight of the ten academic skills assessments with standardized national averages of 98. They scored very high on a letter-word identification experiment. There was evident improvement on the children’s four dimensions upon the implementation of the 4k program. Children from the Carolina schools that had implemented the program had many improvements on their tolerance of frustration, assertiveness; ask orientation as well as on their peer social skills. Children from the schools which lacked the program had children with low response to assertiveness, and could not tolerate humiliation and their frustration. On comparing children performance, the children who had passed through the 4K program in their prekindergarten performed better than students who never went through the program. On looking at the student’s performance history, there was a high advance of performance after the implementation of the 4K program. Students from both poor and rich backgrounds showed an improved performance. The improved performances were recorded from the students who attended the South Carolina elementary schools that have implemented the “4k” kindergarten. Students farm such schools were less likely to be below average relative to students who did not attend such schools. Conclusion The 4K elementary program is a significant enrollment to the school program. It gives chance o all children to participate in skill developments. It is a vital program in improving school and social performances for children after the program. The South Carolina government has approved funding for the expansion and improvising of the 4-year-olds programs. This program gives an opportunity to the young children to attend a full day educational session. Bibliography Business week. 1929. [New York, etc.]: [Bloomberg L.P., etc.]. Crayton, Christopher A., Joel Rosenthal, and Kevin Irwin. 2006. The A+ certification and PC repair handbook. Hingham, Mass: Charles River Media. Scientific Detector Workshop, Jenna E. Beletic, James W. Beletic, and Paola Amico. 2005. Scientific detectors for astronomy 2005 explorers of the photon odyssey. Dordrecht: Springer. Siegenthaler, Jeanne A. 2010. The benefits of implementing a high quality 4k program beyond the 4k school year. Thesis (Ed. D.)--Edgewood College, Madison, Wisconsin 2010. United States. 2005. Early childhood education: improvement through integration : hearing before the Subcommittee on Education Reform of the Committee on Education and the Workforce, U.S.House of Representatives, One Hundred Ninth Congress, first session, April 21, 2005. Washington: U.S. G.P.O. Read More