The years from three to five increasingly are seen as the best time for children to begin their education. There is more and more evidence to show that preschool stimulates mental development and helps children to succeed. Children who attend preschool are less often left back, less often require special education, and more often graduate from high school.

Naturally, the teachers of Patchogue-Medford would like every child to have these advantages ã and now, thanks to a new state initiative, it may be possible to provide a high quality preschool program for all our little ones. As a first step toward qualifying for state funding, the district has created a Prekindergarten Advisory Board. Made up of a cross-section of community members, this board will make recommendations to the school board on the best ways to provide universal preschool.

Research shows that the best preschools have five things in common:

• small class sizes with low ratios of children to teachers
• trained teachers who have ongoing opportunities to improve their skills and teaching practices
• children who attend on a regular basis over time
• good, child centered communication between the school and the home
• curriculum content and classroom procedures that are similar to what children will find when they enter elementary school

The best way to meet these standards is to provide preschool education through the public schools. This would assure equal access and opportunity for all the families in our community, truly professional staffing, and real continuity with later school experiences. Our children deserve to be enrolled in programs that meet the same high standards required of all our local public schools.

The best early childhood programs in the world are found in countries with a national policy of providing preschool education to all children, and a tradition of maintaining high standards through enforceable regulations. New York may now be moving in that direction, and it is our hope that the whole country soon will follow.

For right now, though, our community can be in the forefront of efforts to get every child started off right. There are some difficult decisions to be made ã where our new preschool programs would be housed, how they would be organized, and how to deal with the many details of getting a new program off the ground. We're convinced, though, that our investment in the future will be well worth the effort.

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