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Experts contend the best education is an early start

Boston Globe
Thursday, October 14, 2004
By Alan Lupo

As the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ponders whether to force the state to pony up more money to help educate kids in poor school districts, the public is once again treated to the chorus that money alone is not the answer.

Well, money alone may not be, but don't tell that to local educators who would love to see the state fund what both liberals and conservatives see as something crucial to educating all children. Call it preschool. Call it early-childhood education. Call it chopped liver, if you want. Whatever one chooses to call it, the idea is cogent and constructive: The earlier you start educating children, the better prepared they'll be to deal with kindergarten through senior year in high school.

Last April, when Suffolk Superior Court Judge Margot Botsford ruled that poorer school districts still weren't providing the quality of education the kids deserve under the state constitution, she also recommended free preschool programs for 3- and 4-year-olds from low-income families.

Even if the SJC agrees that a decade of expensive education reform hasn't done the trick, it doesn't mean state-funded preschools are in the cards. Doing so might cost the state a billion bucks, some estimate.

School systems that offer preschool programs do so with a mix of state and federal grants, and grantsmanship is always an iffy business.

''Early-childhood education doesn't work into the reimbursement formula, which are K through 12 dollars," says Paul Dakin, superintendent of schools for Revere, one of the 19 school districts suing the state and contending that poor districts are faring worse than those rich in property tax receipts. ''We have a limited preschool program supported by some grant funds that have been trimmed in recent times. By not having a program for every child, we are missing the boat on a number of opportunities to help young children adjust to school and to help families."

In 2001, Revere received $925,756 in grants, mostly federal, to provide preschool for 252 children. In the current fiscal year, the system has $601,929 and can serve only 182. Typically, he says, about 500 children enter first grade each year. Educators feel all such kids, whatever their family situations, can benefit from early-childhood education.

''The data is rich," Dakin says, ''in showing signs that achievement in children can occur earlier and more aggressively in the younger grades when children have experienced both socializing and conforming to group behaviors in a school setting." And with an increased focus on academic achievement these days, he says, when kids hit first grade, ''They have to be ready to learn right away. Early-childhood education allows for a break-in period."

Last month, in testimony before a legislative committee in New Jersey, that state's assistant to the commissioner for early childhood education, Dr. Ellen Frede, said, ''Previous research has shown that children who attend quality preschool programs have better social skills, better communication skills, better literacy skills and better problem-solving skills. They've experienced the thrill that comes with understanding and achieving, and they are ready to move to the next level."
Professional educators are not the only preschool cheerleaders. In a poll earlier this year of Pennsylvania law-enforcement officials, 64 percent said the best way to reduce youth violence would be to provide high-quality preschool programs, according to a story in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

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And no age is too young. The Ipswich system runs not only preschool but also a ''birth through 3" program, where parents learn how important it is to read to little ones and expose them to music.

''Early intervention is so critical," says Rick Korb, Ipswich school superintendent. ''The biggest benefit is a reduction in later years in the need for special-education services and their corresponding tremendous costs."

Ipswich dedicates four classrooms for 60 preschoolers, age 3 and 4, including both special-ed. kids and those learning at a typical rate, along with a fifth room for a few children who need special attention. Grant money subsidizes kids whose families can't afford to fork over any dough. The other families pay $175 a month.

Margaret Madeiros, a program manager in Ipswich, says she would love full state funding for early-childhood education. ''It equalizes," she says. ''Everybody would have the chance to go."

Early-childhood education was always important, but more so now, Paul Dakin says, because the world has changed.

''It was different when I grew up," says the 52-year-old Revere educator. ''I was in a neighborhood with a lot of cousins, aunts, uncles. All the moms were home at the time. So your essential learning, playing, and communication skills, you got there. Kids played out on the street in those days, so they were socializing. Kids learned how to play and get along. It's a different world now, and some of that has to be picked up by the schools."

Factor in everything from learning numbers and colors, how to hold pencils and crayons, how to follow directions and understand fair play, he says, and kids begin to get that leg up they need. It's even more important, Dakin contends, for those urban kids who bring the extra baggage of family and social problems to school.

''The urban kid," Dakin says, ''gets thrown even further behind if the public school system doesn't provide these opportunities."

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