Great Preschools: The Preschool Mission Statement

Each preschool should have a clear mission guiding school activities. This means that the preschool has a clear purpose and approach to education that you understand. The director, teachers and parents understand this mission, and it guides all decisions and activities in the preschool. Precious resources like money and classroom time are focused to achieve the preschool's goals, not wasted on "window dressing"--things that may look good but don't further the preschool's mission. Essentially, this is both "talking the talk" and "walking the walk"--if the talk and what you observe don't jibe, there's a problem. Research has shown that different stated goals of preschools are significant predictors of differing classroom activities, so what a preschool says it intends to do is one indicator of what it will do. Of course, preschools implement their missions to differing degrees.

Examples of things to consider when evaluating a preschool's mission statement include:

• " The preschool has a written mission that's specific enough for you to tell what the school's program will be like.
• " The preschool director and teachers are consistent and clear when they tell you what kind of instructional approach the preschool uses.
• For example, if a preschool says it uses play, then you should see many stations with materials children can use on their own in the classroom.
• If a preschool says it teaches social skills, classrooms should have activities that children work on together, not just individual or whole-group activities. Recess is not enough.
• If a preschool claims to be a language immersion program, then the language of choice should be the main language spoken during the preschool day.

The Preschool Mission Statement and Your Preschool Search