About 40 percent of three-year-olds attend preschool, 65 percent of four-year-olds do, and some 90 percent of five-year-olds are enrolled in a preprimary kindergarten program across the United States. Although preschool isn’t required in the United States, countless studies have shown that kids who attend preschool prior to entering primary school are more likely to achieve more in life than their counterparts.

Almost everyone in the United States has gone to primary and secondary school. As such, it’s not so difficult for parents to determine whether a particular school is likely to send their children further in life than another. Since not all parents have gone to preschool or studied early childhood education, picking preschools often feels arbitrary. Here are a few signs of top-notch preschools that every parent should know about.

Great Preschools Don’t Restrict Imagination

A major problem with public school in the United States, not to mention most parts of the world, is that creativity is restricted from grades one through 12. Many preschools feel that ordering students to get in the routine of marching to the beat of others’ drums is an effective means of teaching. Great preschools promote intuitive thinking, creativity, and coloring outside of the proverbial lines – and even literal ones.

All-Day-Long Whole-Class Instruction Isn’t Optimal

Students struggle to learn when they’re not stimulated. Dividing the schoolday among small group, classwide, and one-on-one instruction helps maintain the flexibility and plasticity of students’ brains throughout the day. Spending all or most of the schoolday in a learning environment in which a teacher addresses students in a classwide manner doesn’t help promote interpersonal skills in groups or one-on-one settings, either.

Busy Work Is A No-No!

Teachers sometimes assign worksheets upon worksheets to students to keep them quiet and busy so they can focus on teacher stuff. However, this isn’t fair to students because it teaches them to resent doing boring, non-stimulating work.

A surefire way of locating a high-quality preschool is to thoroughly research all available options. Don’t rule out moving just for your child’s education, either, if it means going to quality pre-primary schools like vpk tampa .