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Play in the Early Years: Key to School Success
A policy brief from the Bay Area Early Childhood Funders, Play in the Early Years finds that
- High-quality preschools provide lasting benefits.
- Play contributes to school success in many ways. Through play, children develop representational competence, oral language and narrative understanding, positive approaches to learning, logic, self-regulation and social negotiation.
- The teacher is the key to the play-centered curriculum. Teachers use keen observation to assess and support children’s learning and development through play. Teachers facilitate play through responsive interactions with children.
Includes policy recommendations for state and local policymakers:
- Adopt preschool learning standards/foundations that identify play as the primary method for early learning
- Require the adoption of preschool curricula that emphasize play and child-initiated activities
- Fund in-depth training and ongoing education for early childhood educators and elementary school teachers about methods for using play to promote learning
- Establish parent education programs that explain the importance of play to cognitive development
- Require assessment based on teacher-documented observations of children during play. Rule out high-stakes testing of preschool children.
Download the full report at Play in the Early Years: Key to School Success
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