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by Angel Ford, EdD

U.S. Secretary of Education John King wants equity emphasized as ESSA (the Every Student Succeeds Act) is implemented. ESSA is intended to increase funding and access to early learning programs. Improved access to early learning and King’s desire for equity go well together well. Evidence is plentiful that children who participate in high-quality preschool programs have better outcomes compared to children who do not have this opportunity (ED, 2015). It is also well established that not all preschool aged children have access to programs, therefore access is definitely not equitable (ED, 2015).

Currently only 41% of children are attending publicly funded preschool (ED, 2015). Sure, some families choose to keep these young children at home or place them in private establishments, but a significant number simply do not have access (ED, 2015). Even though ESSA may not address directly the facilities in which early learning takes place, these spaces are important to consider when discussing early learning programs.

First, we could ask: Are some schools not offering preschool because they don’t have adequate space to accommodate an early learning program? Second, for those schools that “make do” or house the preschoolers in standard traditional classrooms we could ask: Do these learning spaces place restrictions on instruction and large motor skill development activities because the original design was for lecture based instruction? Equitable early learning programs need to be housed in appropriate spaces, and, furthermore, the design and condition of these early learning spaces matter!

In a number of my past blogs, I have highlighted the inequities of school building conditions and the opportunity gaps these disparities create for students. In this blog, I would like to expound on this idea by adding to the conversation the condition of the spaces in which early learning takes place. Evidence shows a link between the quality of the learning spaces and the quality of the preschool programs (Arthur, Larson, Gillman & Sussman, 2006), and popular child development specialists such as Piaget and Montessori emphasized the importance of the physical learning spaces of preschoolers (Acer, Gözen, Fırat, Kefeli, & Aslan, 2016). Early learning spaces that are not designed and maintained specifically with best practices in mind could have elements that distract the students either emotionally or cognitively, causing them to be less able to concentrate on the learning processes in which the educators are trying to engage them (Arndt, 2012).

For now, I will just state that the physical learning spaces in which our youngest students attend should be designed or renovated in such a way to provide the best possible environment for these early learners. Learning spaces that are designed or redesigned to meet the needs of preschoolers can have a positive effect on their development and success (Acer et al., 2016). Specific examples of appropriately designed learning spaces will not be provided here, but may be discussed in future blogs. As ESSA increases funding for early childhood education, contemplations should take place about best-built environments. Less fortunate preschoolers should not have to attend dirty, ill-equipped, run-down buildings that may not have been created for such use, while more fortunate preschoolers are able to attend beautiful, clean, and well-resourced centers.

I am not suggesting that the physical environment should be the only focus, as the qualification of the teachers, the effectiveness of the curriculum, and other factors, play critical roles. What I am suggesting is that if we do not consider also the physical learning environments, an important part of the equation is being left out. The places where preschool students learn is one important variable that cannot be overlooked when establishing and expanding early learning education across the nation.

References

Acer, D., Gözen, G., Fırat, Z. S., Kefeli, H., and Aslan, B. (2016). Effects of a redesigned classroom on play behaviour among preschool children. Early Child Development and Care, 1-18.

Arndt, P. A. (2012). Design of learning spaces: Emotional and cognitive effects of learning environments in relation to child development. Mind, Brain, and Education6(1), 41-48.

United States Department of Education (ED). (2015). A matter of equity: Preschool in America.

Dr. Angel Ford is a research associate with Education Facilities Clearinghouse (EFC).  Dr. Ford has previous experience working as a middle/high school administrator and actively participates in research and content management of the EFC website.

 

 

 

Environmental Law Institute, 2015.

Early care and education programs play an important role in helping children reach their full potential in school and throughout their lives. Six million children under five years old receive care outside of their homes – about 30 percent of all children in this age group.1 The facilities that provide this care are numerous and diverse, including approximately 300,000 licensed child care centers and child care homes across the country.2 As the number of children in licensed child care has grown, so has public recognition of the importance of the child care setting to children’s physical, emotional, and intellectual development.

This recognition has led to significant changes in standards of quality for licensed child care programs. Standards currently in place throughout the U.S. cover a wide array of elements for ensuring a healthy, safe, and enriching environment – from caregiver qualifications and program curriculum, to fire safety and nutrition. In recent years, facility standards for child care have begun to address exposure to environmental hazards as well. This shift reflects greater scientific knowledge of the potential harm to children’s health from exposure to environmental contaminants, as well as the availability of well-established facility operation and maintenance practices that can be put in place to help create healthier indoor environments.

The purpose of this report is to provide information to help states strengthen their laws, regulations, and programs to address indoor environmental contaminants in child care facilities. The report is designed for policymakers, agency officials, non-governmental organizations and associations, and others who work to promote quality child care and advance children’s health. The following chapters offer an overview of how policies currently address several key indoor environmental quality (IEQ) issues in licensed child care facilities. For each issue, the report highlights examples of policy strategies for states to consider, along with notable non-regulatory initiatives that are being implemented by state agencies.

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School Planning and Mangement, 2015

While plenty of studies have shown that preschool creates a platform for education success, what is less known is the contribution the facility makes to preschool education. “Obviously the curriculum is very important,” says Aimee Eckmann, AIA, LEED BD+C, Associate Principal at Chicago-based Perkins+Will, “but a facility shapes the learning that happens there.” That said, here’s a look at some of early childhood education’s facilities requirements.

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Christina Samuels, 2015

Early-childhood providers will have access to a $100 million loan program to pay for classroom renovations and other infrastructure improvements, through a partnership announced Sunday at the Clinton Global Initiative's meeting in New York.

The loan funds will be used to renovate classrooms in seven cities and to build 250 new classrooms over the next three years, according to the announcement. Baltimore will be the launch point.

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Olga Khazan  (June 16, 2015). When I lived in L.A., I reported on a school near Long Beach in which nearly a fifth of the students had asthma. One culprit seemed to be the school’s unfortunate geography: About 500 trucks passed by its grounds every hour, and according to a study released at the time, at least 9 percent of childhood-asthma cases in the area were attributable to road traffic. The air near the school, which sometimes smelled rotten or rubbery, contained nearly twice the normal level of elemental carbon, a marker of diesel particles.

Asthma is just one of the health problems linked to air pollution exposure. Sniffing exhaust all day also contributes to everything from stroke to premature death.

Conversely, spending time in nature is correlated with better mental health, attention, and mood in both children and adults. A new study out Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences suggests that green spaces can actually boost cognitive outcomes in children—in part by protecting their brains from air pollutants.

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Tom Jacobs (June 16, 2015). Parents, as a rule, want to give their children every possible academic advantage. While this usually takes the form of tutors or computers, a new study suggests a surprising factor they may want to consider when checking out a new school, home, or neighborhood: Whether it provides adequate access to the natural world. New research from Spain finds that, among second-, third-, and-fourth graders, quality time spent climbing trees and playing games on grass helps mental abilities blossom.

“Our study showed a beneficial association between exposure to green space and cognitive development among schoolchildren,” writes a research team led by Payam Dadvand of Barcelona’s Centre for Research in Environmental Epidemiology. This is partly, but not entirely, explained by the fact that kids who get to play in nature are exposed to less air pollution than those who hang out on city streets.

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By Carolyn Gregoire (2015) Children today spend less time outdoors than ever before -- and it may be detrimental not only to their physical health, but also to their cognitive development. A yearlong study, recently published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, found that elementary school children who were exposed to more green spaces within or directly outside their school showed improved learning and memory. The findings reinforce that of a recent six-year study on 905 Massachusetts public elementary schools, which found that students in schools that had more "greenness" in their surroundings reported higher scores on standardized testing in English and math.

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By: Mark Cullen (Jun 26 2015). While interviewing a young child on his obsession with being indoors, Richard Louv leaned in towards the young lad and asked, “What is it about being indoors that you find so appealing?” “Why, that’s where the electrical outlets are,” he said. That day, back in 2004, the author decided to write a book exploring the importance of nature in the lives of young people: Last Child in the Woods. Although, it has been 10 years since Louv first published his landmark book, kids continue to suffer from “nature deficit disorder” and sequester themselves indoors. We are at risk of developing permanently hunched backs from looking down at our electronic hand held devices.

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How many children get to say that they spent the morning not only in the great outdoors, but doing their part to help wildlife as well? One perfectly sunny, but breezy day in May, my kindergarten class at P.S. 197 in Brooklyn, NY brought the native plants that we had been growing in our classroom to Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge, part of the National Park Service’s Gateway National Recreation Area, to provide nourishment for monarch butterflies, bees, and other pollinators.

We had grown the plants from seed that we collected at the Refuge back in October. It was the latest chapter of our year-long Growing a Wild Brooklyn and Queens program, which includes 12 other participating NWF Eco-Schools. In addition to getting the children – and their parents – outside for a second trip to the Refuge, the program gave me the impetus to get the children outside a couple of more times to plant wildflowers in our own pollinator garden at our school.

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Tanić, Petković, and Kondić, 2012

Current principles in architectural design emphasize the importance of application of materials and technologies that do not jeopardize the environment. Application of sustainable principles in planning and construction becomes an obligatory part of design and construction process for all types of architectural structures. This approach results in architecture that is essentially contextual and sustainable in all crucial parameters, from the construction phase to the exploitation.

One type of approach which could contribute to the creation of such architecture and solve current environmental problems is usage of solar energy. This energy is completely clean, and its source is practically inexhaustible. Solar architecture is therefore a logical continuation in development of architectural concepts in modern times. Usage of active and passive solar systems and their combination can create energetically almost autonomous buildings. The paper examines some aspects relevant for the usage of those systems in the pre-school facilities, both for construction of new buildings and the reconstruction of the existing buildings.

Location data (meteorological data, insulation, orientation towards the sides of the world, the effects of vegetation...) and elements of the building (architectural plan, the form of structure, layout and size of openings, the materialization of the building...) are pointed out as important factors that could affect the application of such systems. In addition to these factors, possibilities and economic feasibility of application of solar systems are treated given the specific architectural features of pre-schools.

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