National Public Radio correspondent Eleanor Beardsley is based in France,

Image: Inspection de l'Education Nationale

where children start school at age 3 in full-day écoles maternelles. When Beardsley’s young son Maxim turned 3, she was wary of sending him to school all day, but, as she notes in the NPR story “French Preschools Aim to Please Toddlers, Moms,” she soon appreciated the French system.

“When Maxim started French preschool last September, my first thoughts were that3-year-olds are just too young to be in school all day. There was a lot of crying that month, but after Maxim and the other children adjusted to their new routine, I began to see some amazing things,” Beardsley reports. “Like the day he came home and at the age of 3½, recited his first poem. And I’ve been pretty impressed since then. With his class, Maxim reads and paints. He has learned to write his name. At Christmas, we parents were serenaded with a yuletide concert.  Maxim is learning a lot, but he is also taken care of in a stimulating and cozy environment. Every day he sits down to a hot lunch and has a nap in a tiny dormitory bed. It’s all part of the process of preparing young children to be students and citizens, says Sylvia Bernard, director of one of Paris’s 800 écoles maternelles.”

In France, according to Marie-Catherine Glaser, educational affairs program officer at the French embassy in Washington, mandatory schooling begins at age 6 – the same age as Massachusetts. More than 2.5 million French children attended the popular preschool programs in 2009, the overwhelming majority – 2.2 million – in free public school classrooms. The rest enrolled in private preschools where, Glaser notes, the tuition is very low.

“Everyone starts first grade on an equal footing,” NPR’s Beardsley reports. “While the French do recognize problems with many aspects of their education system, école maternelle is held in high regard. It is one of the cherished symbols of the French Republic, embodying both equal treatment for all and the emancipation of women.”

In Massachusetts, 70% of 3- and 4- year-olds attend a formal early education and care program. One-quarter of preschool-age children in the commonwealth have publicly financed early education – 11% in public school pre-kindergartens, 9% with subsidies and 5% in Head Start.