Ways to Measure a Preschool’s Success

There are many considerations when choosing where to enroll your soon-to-be school-age child. In the case of Explorations Preschool, though, they deem their Senior Pre-Kinder curriculum as an effective means to hone both academic and social skills of their students.

“Our Senior Pre-Kinder curriculum is the apex of Explorations’ curriculum,” says Clotilde Manahan, the school directress of Explorations Preschool. “Many of the children have been with us for three to four years.  Many people congratulate me on how smart and articulate the children from Explorations are and how successful the program is.”

Despite the praise for the school, though, Manahan asks herself, are the children’s intelligence and language ability true measures of their success as a school?

 

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She enumerates her observations of her pupils’ development, along with important questions parents can ask themselves to ascertain how successful graduates of the Exploration Preschool are.

1. By attending our program for three to four years, our graduating Senior PreK children have become communicators.  Their vocabularies and language outshine older children and maybe some adults who did not have the opportunity as they, to use language to share opinions, discuss ideas, plan together, express and regulate their feelings, and relate to one another.

2. They know how to collaborate towards a common goal.  Through their preschool play in the blocks area, dramatic play, or their culminating activities, they initiate, plan, designate, implement, and collectively take pride in their joint efforts. These are skills so highly prized in the workplace.

3. At five and six years old and they can analyze similarities and differences between experiences they encountered, they can find multiple and creative ways to solve problems at work and play. 

4. For many of the children, they have advanced levels of reading and math unlike typical preschoolers.

But I still ask myself, are these the measure of our success as a school? To a certain extent, intelligence and language ability are a measure of success, but have we succeeded as a school?

I know in my heart that can’t be enough; those qualities are only a partial measure of success. I can only consider that we have succeeded if you can answer yes to the following questions. 

Is my child joyful? 

 Does she approach each day with eagerness that there will be something new and thrilling to encounter and learn for the day?  Does she, despite technology, delight in the simplest things? Does she, when having made a mistake or encountering a problem, face these with humor? And if it was truly a rough day, does she have the joyful hope to know that “tomorrow is another day”? Is she empowered by joy?

 

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Is my child kind? 

 Does my child accept everyone, include everyone, despite their differences? Is he gentle, fair, and firm in resolve even when his feelings are wronged? Does he speak and act kindly because he knows that everyone should be respected and loved?

Is my child generous?

 Is she generous with her time? Is she generous with her possessions? Is she generous with her affection because she trusts in the goodness of others? Is she generous with her ideas and accepting of the ideas of others? Is she generous in her positive regard towards others even if those others might think, feel and believe differently from her?

Is my child patient? 

Is he patient with himself and with others?Does my child know that things don’t come so easily, that one has to work and strive to achieve or possess things? Does he know that when he fails, he must persist until he is certain that he has tried and done his best? Is my child patient with others because he knows that no one is exempt from mistakes and we all have the capacity to rise above these?

If you have answered yes to my questions, then I can say that we have succeeded as a school. With you, I share in your pride and prayers that our children will continue to grow in joy, kindness, generosity and patience as they leave us and move on to other schools.