Long Term Effects of a High Quality Preschool Education: Does good Early Childhood Education Prevent Students from Dropping out of High School?

Students exposed to positive stimulating experiences as young children develop enhanced learning capabilities, which improve their odds for staying in school. Even though children are resilient, given the proper interventions in later years, the window of opportunity to help them develop their social, emotional and cognitive skills is between the ages of three and six. this research is about how critical good Early Childhood Education is in the prevention of dropping out of high school. It looks into the nature of student disengagement from academic life as a gradual process that starts years before the student stops attending school. the study also investigates the current preschool curriculum and pedagogical practices and their alignments with federal and state standards as well as the major issues concerning the lack of appropriate funding and curriculum to guide preschool programs. In addition it looks into the home environment and community involvement in promoting Early Childhood Education. The survey data, on the role of Early Childhood Education in helping students stay in school, which is collected from current preschool and elementary school teachers, is critically evaluated in comparison with current literature to see if indeed pre-K and kindergarten education is the best preventive measure that will reduce the number of students that dropout of high school