{"id":20548,"date":"2013-11-04T10:10:40","date_gmt":"2013-11-04T15:10:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/?p=20548"},"modified":"2013-11-04T10:10:40","modified_gmt":"2013-11-04T15:10:40","slug":"benefits-and-barriers-to-early-learning-in-florida","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/2013\/11\/04\/benefits-and-barriers-to-early-learning-in-florida\/","title":{"rendered":"Benefits, And Barriers, To Early Learning In Florida"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Every<\/a>

Sammy Mack \/ StateImpact Florida<\/p>

Every morning, children at Education Station begin the day with a hug and a book.<\/p><\/div>\n

Florida\u2019s legislative session is months away, but educators and politicians are already talking about making early childhood education a priority.<\/p>\n

\u201cEarly childhood is viewed as childcare, and not early childhood education, which it really is,\u201d says Dr. Susan Neimand, director of the School of Education at Miami Dade College, which runs a nationally recognized early learning center called Education Station.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know that the brain starts developing from the time the child is in the womb\u2014and the proper attention for that is not given,\u201d says Neimand.<\/p>\n

LISTEN: Why Early Learning Matters To Florida Educators<\/strong><\/p>\n\nhttps:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/files\/2013\/11\/EarlyLearn_1_web.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n

From the infant room to the pre-K class, children at Education Station start their day with a hug and a book. It\u2019s part of an evidence-based approach to cultivate learners. The center is staffed by professionals trained in child development and students from the school of education.<\/p>\n

Research has shown that children who get high-quality early learning\u2014where instructors are trained in child development and reading and learning are encouraged through play\u2014are more likely graduate high school and go on to college. They\u2019re less likely to end up in jail. As a result, the federal government estimates that every dollar invested in early learning can save about seven dollars in the future.<\/p>\n

\"It<\/a>

Sammy Mack \/ StateImpact Florida<\/p>

It looks like finger paint, but it's really a display of motor skill development at Exploration Station.<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cIn order to be able to compete in a globalized world, it is very, very important that we\u2019re able to provide this foundation in early education,\u201d says Dr. Eduardo Padr\u00f3n, president of Miami Dade College.<\/p>\n

But that foundation is not cheap. Full price for Exploration Station costs $650 to $900 dollars a month\u2014though most of the families receive a school discount or some kind of grant. The college subsidizes the building and all the facilities.<\/p>\n

Florida\u2019s School Readiness<\/a> program offers financial assistance to low income families for early learning programs across the state. But the wait list for that help is longer than 60,000.<\/p>\n

Even if families can secure a spot, not all daycare centers offer the same early learning opportunities\u2014though there\u2019s movement to improve early education quality in Florida. The Florida Current<\/a> reports Florida\u2019s Early Learning Advisory Committee has backed a series of recommendations that would standardize training for daycare and pre-kindergarten staff and provide incentives for high-quality programs:<\/p>\n

Rep. Marlene O\u2019Toole, R-Lady Lake,\u00a0declared during an Oct. 10 House Education Committee meeting she intended to focus on daycare and pre-k programs during the spring session. \u2026<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of work to be done,\u201d O\u2019Toole said. \u201cIt is more imperative than ever that we work together as a team to discuss what needs to be done.\u201d \u2026<\/p>\n

Members of the ELAC subcommittee zeroed in on the training requirements for people working with children in the various programs. The committee agreed to recommend a minimum age of 18 for people who lead\/supervise a group of preschoolers. And, it also reached a consensus on age-appropriate training for people working directly with children.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Early learning is on the federal legislative agenda, too. President Barack Obama has proposed a universal preschool <\/a>plan that would cost $75 billion.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Florida\u2019s legislative session is months away, but educators and politicians are already talking about making early childhood education a priority. \u201cEarly childhood is viewed as childcare, and not early childhood education, which it really is,\u201d says Dr. Susan Neimand, director of the School of Education at Miami Dade College, which runs a nationally recognized early […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":147,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[15,17],"tags":[1030,886],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20548"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/147"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20548"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20548\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20555,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20548\/revisions\/20555"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20548"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20548"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20548"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}