What does a quality preschool look like?

Gillian, my 4 year old, just started her first week of being the "big kid" in preschool. This will be the final year of watching my kids hold those big dripping paint brushes in front of tottering easels and ride big wheels in the parking lot. This the last year of letting the morning revolve around snack. Yeah, it's true: I'm a little sad, already waxing nostalgic.

After years of writing about the science of early childhood and watching my kids go through 5 years (collectively) of preschool, at two different places including a parent-run co-op, I often have friends ask me: So what does a good preschool look like? What does "quality" really mean?

The easy answer is: look for small class sizes and qualified teachers. But that doesn't tell the whole story, and "qualified teachers" can mean different things to different people. At my daughter's half-day school, for example, the teachers don't have associates or bachelor's degrees in early childhood. They have bachelor's degrees in other subjects, with, say, an emphasis on physical therapy or science or dance, and they take professional development courses on how the cognitive development and needs of young children. Their "quality" comes from their ability to think creatively in engaging 2, 3 and 4 year olds -- whether it is letting them go wild with "shaving cream painting" or helping them to verbalize their frustration with a peer who won't share.

A report published yesterday by the National Institute for Early Education Research offers more evidence of the value of "quality" schools. It, too, emphasizes the importance of teacher education and low class sizes, but doesn't point to any one type of preschool (public, private, etc) as being better than another. On a general level, the report is quite helpful in spelling out the benefits. What it doesn't do is offer more specific guidance on spotting stellar programs, the kind that in an ideal world we would want for all children.

So maybe it's time to focus in on what and how children are taught -- to zoom in on the strategies and curricula that are most helpful to young kids. In the magazine Science last November, several researchers (including Steve Barnett, the author of this week's NIERR report) provided a fascinating look at how a Denver-based program called Tools of the Mind can help young children with cognitive development. I blogged briefly about this program in June after hearing one of its founders, Deborah Leong, talk about how to capitalize on "pretend play" -- and use video that stimulates pretend play -- to help children practice with new words and new settings that may improve their critical thinking skills. (See focusing on creative playtime (and using video to do it), June 9, 2008.).

The Science article was an example of how to use rigorous scientific methodology to discover how children learn best. Research-based reports on other approaches-- Science has had a few articles on the Montessori method, for example -- have also demonstrated some positive impact.

What, you might ask, does any of this have to do with electronic media and kids? More than you might think. We can use some of the same insights that come from research on preschools to make better judgments about when to use media with kids -- and when it gets in the way.

What teaching strategies and methods have you witnessed in preschools? Which ones are worth digging into?