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10 - What the School of the 21st Century Can Teach Us about Universal Preschool

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 June 2012

Edward Zigler ,
Walter S. Gilliam  and
Stephanie M. Jones
By
Matia Finn-Stevenson
Edward Zigler
Affiliation:
Yale University, Connecticut
Walter S. Gilliam
Affiliation:
Yale University, Connecticut
Stephanie M. Jones
Affiliation:
Yale University, Connecticut
Matia Finn-Stevenson
Affiliation:
Yale University
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Summary

A long-standing problem in the early childhood field is that there is no cohesive delivery system in place for preschool and child care services. Rather, we have a mix of fragmented services, some providing part-day preschool to four-year-olds, others providing all-day, year-round child care for children whose parents are working. Multiple funding streams support the programs, and a variety of institutional contexts exists – public schools, nonprofit and for-profit centers, churches, and community-based organizations – as well as licensed and unlicensed individual child care providers. Of significance is the general lack of quality that characterizes this nonsystem. Hence large numbers of preschool children attend programs that are of poor or mediocre quality, which has consequences for their healthy growth and development as well as their school readiness.

Universal preschool has the potential to create a better and more equitable early care and education system. Many issues have to be addressed about the governance, structure, and scope of a proposed system. In this chapter we discuss our experiences with the development and implementation of a universal school-based program known as the School of the 21st Century (21C). In some communities in Kentucky and Connecticut, the program is referred to as the Family Resource Center. 21C is a comprehensive program that includes, in addition to other components, universally accessible child care for preschoolers.

Type
Chapter
Information
A Vision for Universal Preschool Education , pp. 194 - 215
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2006

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