Early childhood education

A study entitled 'Transforming Education in the Primary Years' by Lisa Guernsey and Sara Mead argue in building up a high-quality education system that starts at age three and extends through the third grade. They envision this as integral to a new social contract that sets forth the kind of institutional arrangements that prompt society to share risks and responsibilities of our common civic and economic life and provide opportunity and security for our citizens. Many efforts to improve the early childhood education sector have been incremental and transactional versus transformational. Guernsey and Mead argue that when educators are well-prepared, supported, and rewarded, they can form strong relationships that positively affect children's success. Prescriptive curricula are developed to support teachers who were new or struggling in a bid to guide the primary students, not to replace the professional in the classroom.