Last week, Michigan Governor Rick Snyder recommended another increase in government spending on early childhood education in the state.Recent studies underscoring the benefits of early childhood education programs have created believers across the political spectrum. President Obama has issued a call for universal pre-school.
Meanwhile, educators and researchers are engaged in a robust debate over how best to teach these young learners. For example, should Kindergarten classes last all day? And should the earliest schooling begin to focus more on academic, as opposed to social, development?
Tanya Wright, Associate Professor of Education at MSU and a former Kindergarten teacher herself, says full day kindergarten may address gaps in early reading and math development.