A broad term used to describe any type of educational program that serves children during their preschool years, before they are old enough to enter kindergarten, is "early childhood education." Depending on the setting, early childhood education can include a variety of activities and experiences that are intended to aid in the cognitive and social development of preschoolers before they enter elementary school.
Early childhood education can look very different from one state to the next – or even from one school to the next within the same state – depending on the circumstances. Childcare and daycare or nursery school settings, as well as more traditional preschool or pre-kindergarten classrooms, are all possible settings for preschool education programs for three-, four-, or five-year-olds. Preschool education programs can be tailored to meet the specific needs of three-, four-, or five-year-olds. These programs may be housed in centers, homes, or public schools, and they may be offered part-time, full-time, or even on a year-round schedule to include summers. They may also be offered in a variety of formats, including online.
Even in terms of funding and sponsorship, early childhood education programs can be run privately, by a local school system, or by a federally funded program such as Head Start, among other things.
Early childhood education programs that are funded by the federal, state, and private sectors
The Head Start program, which was established in 1965, was one of the very first early childhood education initiatives in the United States. Free access to early childhood education programs is provided to children from low-socioeconomic-status families or those who qualify under a specific at-risk category under this federally funded education initiative, which is funded by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
As a result of Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Act, many early childhood education programs in the United States are now funded by the federal government. The federal government funds local educational agencies that submit applications to state agencies through the Title I program; those that are approved by the state are then funded by the federal government. In accordance with the No Child Left Behind Act, the use of Title I funds for preschool programs is encouraged.
When it comes to four-year-olds in the United States, the National Institute for Early Education Research reports that 28 percent of them (1.4 million) participated in a state-funded preschool program during the 2012-13 school year. Forty states and the District of Columbia provide state-funded preschool programs. According to recent statistics, 85 percent of all four-year-olds enrolled in preschool were enrolled in a program that receives state funding, making state-funded preschool programs the primary program for four-year-olds in the vast majority of states.
As the first state in the nation to implement a statewide universal pre-kindergarten program, Georgia provides early childhood education to all four-year-olds in the state. Since then, states such as New York, Oklahoma, and Florida have adopted similar legislation.
In addition, early childhood education programs may be run by private for-profit corporations or by religious organizations, or they may be included as part of a private school's curriculum. Typically, tuition-based programs for early childhood education are the norm in this setting.
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