Nettle Creek Article by Joe Backmeyer
Early Childhood Education Article by Kathy Parker
Palladium-Item Guest Editorial November 7, 2011
Dr. Kathy Parker, Director of the Office of Student Achievement, Richmond Community Schools
Early Childhood Education: The key to developing successful students and building a strong economy
Our nation is facing an issue of epic proportion and critical importance. This issue affects our economy, reduces the competiveness of our workforce, and challenges our highest ideals. This issue is America’s early childhood literacy crisis.
In cities across America, children, especially those from low-income families, are entering kindergarten without the basic early literacy skills needed for lifelong success. The reality is that most children entering kindergarten lacking these important skills do not catch up with their peers in subsequent years. There is overwhelming academic consensus that birth through age five is the time when a child’s brain is undergoing the most growth and development. The developing brain triples in the first year alone and is virtually fully formed by the time a child enters kindergarten, setting the foundation for lifelong learning.
Nearly 20% of children under the age of five in Indiana are living in poverty. Thus, we shouldn’t be surprised to learn that 17% of Indiana’s third graders aren’t reading at grade level. Most of these kids started behind and, as hard as they and those who attempted to help them tried, never could catch up.
Fortunately, research has given us strong evidence on what strategies work to ensure that all children are prepared to succeed in kindergarten and beyond. Among these is access to high quality early childhood education programs.
Richmond Community Schools, as a member of the Countywide Partnership for Youth (CPY), is committed to support of the CPY Youth Development Plan (YDP). One of the indicators of progress toward the overall goals of the YDP is for “the importance of early childhood development to be recognized in all school corporations.”
Despite the fact that Indiana is one of ten states that provide no state funding for preschool, Richmond Community Schools has provided quality early childhood education programming since the 2004-2005 school year, when the Early Learning and Family Literacy Center was opened. Working from the overarching goal that all children should have access to quality preschool programming, services have since been expanded to include preschool classrooms at four additional elementary sites. All of the RCS preschool programs provide a well-rounded, developmentally appropriate curriculum with an intense focus on literacy.
Consistent with the research on the impact of early childhood education, local data suggest that the positive impact is both significant and long-lasting. Students enrolled in the RCS preschool program for one year or more, as a group, demonstrate a higher passing rate on measures of reading foundational skills at the beginning of kindergarten. Further, these effects are still in place through the end of third grade, where the passing rate on ISTEP+ of students enrolled one or more years in the RCS preschool program is higher than the passing rate of the grade level as a whole.
The Board of School Trustees of Richmond Community Schools is to be commended for its continued support of early childhood education despite the lack of state funding, and in light of the looming financial deficit. In order to ensure the future prosperity of Indiana, we must value early childhood education not just with words, but with actions. We need to increase public and private investments in these proven strategies to ensure that all children start school with the skills they need for success. Our children deserve it; our economy requires it.