Most childhood education specialists claim that young children learn best when they're not pushed too hard, they have an opportunity to interact with their peers, and their parents and instructors treat them kindly. Likewise, children learn best when instruction and educational activities are only a small portion of their days. This is especially true of children enrolled in pre-school programs since it's not good for young children to be separated from their parents for extended periods of time. Children usually do not benefit in programs with inexperienced teachers and large classroom sizes.
Children taught at an early age usually benefit in the following ways: improved social skills, less or no need for special education instruction during subsequent school years, better grades, and enhanced attention spans. Likewise, some researchers have concluded that young children enrolled in pre-school programs usually graduate from high school, attend college, have fewer behavioral problems, and do not become involved with crime in their adolescent and young adult years.
The research detailing these benefits was completed during the 80's. In addition to benefiting children experiencing normal development, it was also shown that children with learning or other physical disabilities benefit immensely from pre-kindergarten education. Also, children with parents highly involved in their pre-kindergarten education do not experience the same positive results from Head Start programs as children coming from homes where it's not as much an emphasis. Children taught how to speak a second language during their early developmental years are also in a better position to learn English at a young age.
