ABSTRACT
A movement appears to be in motion to extend public education to serve three and four year olds, and even younger children. Over 150 years ago Frederich Froebel coined the term kindergarten, a beautiful metaphor that captured his lifelong passion for an inter-connectedness of all living things. There is a paucity of empirical research on the effects of preschool on the academic and social growth of children. Three studies that stand out regarding preschool education are the Perry Preschool Project, the Abecedarian Project, and more recently the research by Johns Hopkins sociologist Karl Alexander and colleagues. Janicki and Banicky recommended that the interventions that were successful in preschool and kindergarten should be extended for grades one through three in order to sustain the progress made in kindergarten. The achievement gap can be closed for children of poverty and preschool offers one of the best methods to achieving that goal.
