Circle Time Question: Pre-k and Hispanic Children by Libby

Last week, the National Task Force on Early Childhood Education for Hispanics released an important report called “Para nuestros niños: Expanding and Improving Early Education for Hispanics."  The report highlights the fact that much of the achievement gap between Hispanic children and their peers exists before they enter kindergarten. Citing research on how high-quality pre-k and other early childhood programs improve Hispanic children’s school readiness, the task force issued recommendations aimed at:

• Increasing Hispanic children’s access to high-quality early education;
• Increasing the number of Spanish-speaking educators; and
• Designing and evaluating strategies to strengthen Hispanic children’s language and literacy skills.

What do you think about these objectives and how we can achieve them? How does your pre-k program help Hispanic children and families overcome barriers like access and language?

Comments

[Julie Sorg]

I agree with Hispanic children needing the early interventions that pre-k can provide. In fact, in my county the Hispanic children are the majority in the Head Start pre-k programs. However, the educator in me cries out for the other ELL students in United States. They too deserve the opportunity and I am inclined to push for an all inclusive initiative.