A Cautionary Preschool Tale

[derek]

As part of my research, I visit a lot of preschools. A lot. I think I spend more time in preschool now, finishing my dissertation, then I did when I was in... well... preschool.

So I've come to have an interesting perspective on what makes for the best school. Actually, it's probably one of the most important fringe benefits of the kind of science I do! When the time comes to put a child of my own in a preschool, I'll be one seriously savvy consumer. That's a good thing too, because I've seen firsthand that there are many preschools and kindergartens out there that you really, really wouldn't want to send your kid to. It's not rocket science, but you do want to do your homework.

There's one cautionary tale in particular that I like to relate, especially to friends of mine who don't have much cause to think about kids yet, and generally assume that one preschool or kindergarten is more or less the same as the next.

Not too long ago, my colleague Deena Weisberg (herself a developmental psychologist at Yale) and I were visiting a preschool in Connecticut to run some studies there. Obviously the school in question shall remain nameless, but I can tell you that it was in a fairly affluent suburb. (Tip #1: cost and quality aren't necessarily all that highly correlated!).

Anyhow, we arrived, innocently expecting to walk in and see the normal preschool things. You know: circle time, juice, maybe some singing about whales and kangaroos and so forth -- all the stuff that makes a good preschool an enriching place for a kid to spend time each day.

But that isn't what we had in store for us on this particular occasion. Instead, we were greeted with a scene that I have since likened to the preschool equivalent of a dive bar.

The adult "teachers" were all sitting at a table, discussing (as we later overheard) whether "toast has carbs". The kids - more or less unsupervised - were grouped around an assortment of televisions, video games, and a foosball table.

Yep, a foosball table. If you're like me, you didn't even realize that foosball tables came in preschool size. Maybe they bought one from a frat house that was going out of business and sawed off its legs.

In any event, it was a pretty reprehensible scene from a child development point of view. Nor did things improve from there. It was loud, chaotic, and the children were (completely unsurprisingly) having an extremely difficult time engaging with the various games and questions that were part of our studies.

We talked about it afterwards, and really just marveled at the enormous gulf in quality that separates the best preschools we visit from the worst. It's not necessarily the kind of stuff that you might expect. I'm sure that this particular preschool was fairly expensive, for example, almost certainly more expensive than many of the truly excellent schools we've been to in the area. The markers of quality are often much more subtle things.

So here's an interesting question. How do you pick the right school for your child? How do you find those diamonds in the rough in the middle of the many mediocre options?

What do you think? If you're a parent whose done it successfully, I hope you'll take a moment to share your experience. On the other hand, if you're a parent whose currently trying to navigate those choppy waters, chime in with your questions!

I'm excited to see this community grow into an excellent source of information as people trade their own tips and experience, and of course I'll be here each day to contribute my own two cents from the perspective childhood development.

Looking forward to reading your posts!

Derek

[Janet12]

Wow, as a parent that story is horrifying!

I guess one question that I have is how parents can get better information about what a preschool is really like? When I've gone to look at schools in the past, I've frequently had the uncomfortable feeling that things were a little bit "staged" shall we say. Obviously schools and teachers are going to put their best foot forward when parents of prospective students visit, and that makes it hard to really evaluate what you're seeing.

I'm sure this occurs to every parent, so what have others done? What do other Moms (and Dads ) out there think is the most reliable source of information when it comes to a preschool's quality?

And BTW, thanks Derek for putting this whole site together! It's really cool, and a place like this for parents is long overdue.

~ Janet