Why aren preschool or pre-kindergarten or teachers eligible for the All-USA Teacher Team?
The eligibility requirements should not be construed to mean that there aren’t excellent preschool and pre-kindergarten teachers or that we don’t acknowledge early childhood education is important. Preschool and pre-kindergarten teachers are not eligible for this recognition because the certifications and the definitions of “full-time” vary so much across the country. A 2001 special edition of Education Week took a state-by-state look at early childhood education and concluded that they couldn’t draw many national conclusions because laws and programs varied too much. The variations make it too difficult for our judges to consider preschool and pre-kindergarten teachers on an even basis.
