Early childhood education

Michael Ben-Avie

Ilene Vogelstein

Roberta Louis Goodman

pp. 749-765

in: Helena Miller, Lisa Grant, Alex Pomson (eds), International handbook of Jewish education, Berlin, Springer, 2011

Abstract

Jewish early childhood education in the United States is at crossroads not only because of the introduction of Universal Pre-Kindergarten. As more and more States come up with "free" early childhood educational options in public schools, Jewish early childhood programs will need to compete with them just to get people in the door. Therefore, quality is likely to be more of an issue, not less, in the coming years. The research presented in this chapter contributes to conversations about the significance of quality programs for attracting Jewish families and the ability of Jewish early childhood programs of excellence to serve as a gateway to Jewish life.