Michigan Continues Its History of
Early Childhood Standards of Quality
by Lindy Buch, Supervisor, Office of Early Childhood Education and Family Services, Michigan Department of Education
In the mid-1980s, the Michigan Depart-ment of Education began an experiment with a state-funded preschool program and planned a deliberate approach to ensure the quality of that program. Using the research available at that time, early education and child development experts wrote a set of guidelines for the program, Standards of Quality and Curriculum Guidelines for Preschool Programs for Four-Year-Olds (www.michigan.gov/documents/MSRP_Blue_Standards_71210_7.PDF). The State Board of Education approved the guidelines. The first state-initiated pre-kindergarten program began in 1985 and served 694 children.
This year, the Michigan School Readiness Program (MSRP) will serve approximately one in five Michigan four-year-olds—almost 26,000 children. The Standards of Quality and Curriculum Guidelines for Preschool Programs for Four-Year-Olds has proven to be effective in creating guidelines for high-quality programs that help children prepare for kindergarten and elementary school experiences.
In 1992, the State Board of Education approved an additional document, Early Childhood Standards of Quality for Pre-kindergarten through Second Grade (currently available only in hard copy).* This document includes expanded curriculum information, including specific information on what children should learn in the period from ages four to eight. Many school districts have successfully aligned their local school practices with these standards.
In 2002, President Bush launched Good Start, Grow Smart, a federal initiative to make sure that all children have the best possible opportunities to be prepared for kindergarten. As one of the activities under Good Start, Grow Smart, each state is required to develop early learning guidelines—for language, literacy, and mathematics—that will indicate the skills and information children need to be successful in kindergarten. Although federal initiatives such as the Head Start-State Collaboration program and the Child Care Assistance program are required to complete these activities, Michigan has chosen to use a collaborative approach to accomplish the work of establishing standards. The federal requirement provides Michigan with an opportunity to revise Michigan’s current early childhood standards documents into an integrated package. This package will include early learning guidelines for children in all curriculum and developmental areas and standards for high-quality preschool programs.
A steering committee with members from the Michigan Department of Education and the Family Independence Agency began its work in February 2004 and hopes to have an initial guidelines document ready for review next fall. The committee hopes the final product will be helpful to schools, early childhood education programs, and parents. This set of standards is intended to expand upon the outcomes and indicators work that is part of the Early Childhood Comprehensive Systems Project (see page 4).
For more information, contact: Lindy Buch, Office of Early Childhood Education and Family Services, Michigan Department of Education, P.O. Box 30008, Lansing, MI 48909, (517) 373-8483, BuchL@michigan.gov.
* To order Early Childhood Standards of Quality for Pre-Kindergarten through Second Grade, call (517) 373-8483.
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