The Ohio Department of Education has established its first academic standards for preschools. Students should know how to write their name and tell the difference between and a penny and a quarter.
The new standards will address science, math, social studies and language skills. While they are not mandatory and will not keep children out of kindergarten, the standards were adopted by state- and federally-funded preschools. Regulations are also being made for private preschools as well.
While some people might argue that setting standards for preschoolers is taking the learning program too far, making preschools stick to a curriculum is good for Ohio’s education system. The standards are not meant to hinder a young child’s playtime but to ensure that all schools are teaching their students the basics of life. A student in kindergarten who knows how to spell is better off than a student who doesn’t.
The regulations will not turn our schools into something from Oliver Twist. It is important for toddlers to have playtime and socially interact with other toddlers, but the standards will not take away from this. Before, in a three-hour preschool session, the schools would have one hour of learning time and two hours of playtime. The new standards are not taking away from this; they are just saying what should be taught in the one hour of learning time.
Sending a child to a private preschool, like the Goddard school in Columbus, can be a very expensive endeavor for a parent. Those parents should have the assurance that the money they are paying is going in to their child’s development and not simply funding an expensive day-care center. These new standards will make sure that children in these preschools are learning important skills rather than just being watched over, as in a day-care, for three or so hours a day.
The years from birth to age 5 are important in the brain development of a person and should not be ignored by either the parent or a learning institution. The Ohio Department of Education has taken a good step forward in its learning program by holding preschools to important standards.
