Raising Successful Kids: Picking the Right School Starts Earlier Than Parents Think

Dr. Calvin Moore, Jr., CEO, Council for Professional Recognition

Comedians love to make jokes about how things are different from when they were growing up. Many start with something like this: “In my day we had to actually pick up the phone and ask who it was to know who was calling us.” While we laugh about how technology has rapidly changed our lives from one generation to the next, more parents need to embrace this reality as it relates to education.

The place to start is when parents make that first critical decision about where to send their child for early childhood education. Too often we see parents picking a program based on their memories of what daycare was like for them. They did not like the preschool at the church decades ago, so they will never enroll their little one in a program based in a religious setting. The memory of preschool was unenjoyable, so they would never consider it for their three-year-old today. How accurate can memories really be from so long ago? Or they make choices about the quality of a program from what a neighbor or friend told them or an online review. An all-day program was right for one child but not for another—there is no universal “right” answer.

My experience began as a Head Start student and years later, I served as a Head Start teacher. One of the things I learned as a teacher was the importance of supporting the social and emotional development of all my students and providing positive guidance. These are competencies stressed for educators like me who’ve earned a Child Development Associate® Credential™. I join my fellow educators in believing it is critical to develop a warm, positive, supportive, and responsive relationship with each child, and to help each child learn about and take pride in his or her individual and cultural identity. These are wise words that parents should also take to heart when looking for a program that will spur their child to the success, we all want.

Choosing the right program that meets the unique needs of a child also has benefits beyond the immediate ones. We have all seen parents who push their children in high school or college to pursue a field of study, sport, or other extracurricular activity to make mom and dad “happy,” neglecting the needs of the child. The best way to create a successful ecosystem is to start at the earliest age. Parents should choose an early childhood education environment that matches their child’s needs, not one based on faded memories of youth.

Dr. Moore leads the Council for Professional Recognition, a nonprofit that supports early childhood education professionals and administers the Child Development Associate® Credential™.