Ms. Heather's Stories

I heard the crashing sound first, then waited for the long, low wail that came next. It did come, and grew louder and stronger with each of the 5 seconds it took me to race across the room to investigate. Nicholas had done it again…charged into a carefully crafted block tower, knocking heavy, wooden blocks down onto the heads and backs of its builders. As I approached, he darted away snickering, off to disturb the peace in other areas of the room, as was his habit. Nicholas was the first -but far from the last- 3 year old student who entered my class seemingly without any idea of how to co-exist with others, attend to conversations or generally be in a group setting without causing serious trouble every single day. He was the student who opened my eyes.

I had been teaching for many years before the trend became apparent…each year, my Pre Kindergarten students were arriving at school with fewer and fewer of the skills they needed to navigate a classroom. While many children in past classes had enrolled in preschool with no prior group experience, Nicholas showed me that something in society had changed and with that change the differences between children who are “ready” and those who aren’t has grown. How can preschool teachers support Kindergarten readiness when their students don’t have the basic skills they need to thrive in preschool? The way to close this widening gap is to help babies, toddlers and especially kids who miss enrollment cutoff dates by a few days to build the skills they need to arrive at preschool ready to learn.

There are numerous Birth-3 programs in my state of Illinois, all of which have a wonderful goal; the best development experiences for children. Unfortunately, our system of early care and learning is disjointed, and children slip through the cracks because their families are unaware of opportunities or unable to take advantage of them because of distance, scheduling or other issues that make attendance difficult. Enter Child-Parent programs for children birth to age three, playgroups that offer learning experiences for children birth through age 4 and their caregivers with an adult only parent class component that helps support adults’ growth as much as kids’.

Such an innovative model could begin with playtime. Children and adults interact using an hour-long preschool style schedule then transition to an hour where children work with teachers and parents meet separately with a facilitator and other parents to discuss their needs as caregivers. This is pretty standard…the difference could be partnerships with public schools. If classes meet in schools and run near pickup or dropoff times for elementary schools, they would offer parents the chance to manage their schedules more easily. Field trips on days when schools are closed and other activities would create a bond between the school and family while building in the children a growing excitement and understanding about the joys of school. Such kids may just have the leg up that Nicholas could have used.

Nicholas struggled throughout his early years of school, and may be struggling with school to this day. I know that he could have benefitted from a program like this, and it could have changed the trajectory of his early years as a student. I bet I’m not the only Pre K teacher who wishes some of his or her students had benefited from it as well, but it’s never too late to start. With 0-3/family partnerships in more schools, there could be fewer kids like Nicholas next year.

In the fall of 2017, the State of Illinois rolled out an assessment that may change the face of early education. KIDS (the Kindergarten Individual Development Survey) is an observation based evaluation administered by Kindergarten teachers. It is intended to be play based, even though many Kinder classrooms in Illinois are proudly focused on “academics” in lieu of play based learning. The results seem dismal -only 1 in 4 children in the state were deemed “ready” for Kindergarten- but this was also problematic in many other ways.

Our current culture values testing and data above all else, and we will mine data whenever we can. This means teachers of little kids are focused on results instead of meaningful learning for children via appropriate programming. People are looking for someone to blame for our children’s lack of “readiness” and it’s only a matter of time before the blame for a 3 year old’s “failure” in school is pushed down to where it all begins…the home. And that will be the only bright spot in an otherwise bleak picture, because it will place the focus on where the need for great learning is most profound for young kids.

We have all heard that parents & families are a child’s first teachers, and it’s true. Sadly, most adults aren’t aware of the ways young children learn, so some kids, whose parents and caregivers have learned -or instinctively know how- to have rich interactions are far ahead of their peers. Child-Parent programs seek to increase the number of parents who have these skills.

The adults in these programs work together to model and teach empathy, positive interactions and meaningful use of language to the children in the program. Child Parent Teachers model for parents and caregivers who then model for their children. These skills are the focus because research has shown them to be the most impactful on how children approach their world and eventually interact with peers, teachers and curriculum in school. Children in such programs have a good shot at being ready, but how do we make sure the focus -and the money- is where it should be? That’s a question for our leaders -school and district administrators, local and state level politicians- who need to put the mouth where their mouths are. Sadly, that’s not where they think it should be. It’s time for those who hold the purse strings to listen to those of us who end up holding the bag…instead of opening more half filled Pre K classrooms, consider more 0-3 program offerings. If we’re trying to have kids who are “right from the start” we need to start at the beginning, and that’s not age 3.