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In The News

Not all fun and games: Issues surrounding preschool

Source: Kokomo Tribune 

By Caele Pemberton

February 24, 2017

For students, preschool is an opportunity to play, learn some new words, meet new friends and get a snack. For parents and educators, preschool is much more than that.

For them, preschool is a critical time for preparing students for the rest of their academic careers. Teachers from schools across Howard County and beyond often agree that students who have attended some form of early childhood education are more prepared for kindergarten than those who haven’t.

Tammy Tickfer, principal at Lafayette Park Elementary School, said she and her teachers see a noticeable difference when children have been to some form of early childhood education, and especially one focused on preparing students for school.

“I just see that it’s so developmentally appropriate what they’re doing in preschool with the little ones,” Tickfer said. “That play is the way they learn, and there’s some structure to their day, but it’s an appropriate amount of structure and that’s how they learn best. That just gets them ready for kindergarten. They learn how we do school.”

Based on numbers collected by the United Way of Howard County, only 45 percent of students in the county are entering kindergarten ready to learn - defined as being prepared socially, emotionally and academically for a kindergarten curriculum.

Pat Clark, chairperson of the department of elementary education for Ball State University, said the phrase “ready to learn” can be confusing. Clark is working with the United Way of Howard County to develop a standardized assessment to determine how many children enter kindergarten ready to learn.

“Children are born ready to learn,” Clark said. “What we need to assess is whether children are ready to be successful in kindergarten, which will then help us know what kinds of experiences and support we need to have in place for children and families.”

Julie Ryckman, who teaches preschool at Taylor Elementary School, stressed that preschool today isn't like it once was.

“What we are now is what kindergarten used to be,” she said. “As times have changed, kindergarten has become more curriculum based rather than organized chaos.”

Taylor Elementary School has two half-day preschool classes, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. Jeremy Luna, principal of the school, said the preschool program helps prepare students for kindergarten while allowing them to have fun and learn valuable skills.

“We want kids to start enjoying school,” he said. “If a kid stays home until kindergarten, it’s hard the first few weeks of school.”

Preschool helps the students learn to say goodbye to their parents in the morning, a problem kindergarten teachers face each year with children who are entering school for the first time, Luna said. It also helps them learn to work in groups, listen as teachers read, and recognize shapes, colors and words. And it helps students become used to the more subtle experiences of going to school, like drinking from a water fountain and attending assemblies.

“It helps the whole education process,” he said.

But with limited money, staff and space for preschool programs, kindergarten teachers often spend the first few weeks of school catching up the students who did not have the opportunity to attend some form of early childhood education.

There are a few bills in the Indiana legislature that could affect early childhood education, including Senate Bill 276 and House Bill 1004, both titled “Prekindergarten Education.” Both bills could expand the On My Way Pre-K program, which is currently only available in five counties across the state.

HB 1004 would expand the eligibility for the program so children in families at 185 percent of the poverty level could receive grants to attend preschool. This would mirror the income requirements for reduced priced lunches in Indiana. Currently, the preschool pilot program is available to children at 127 percent of the poverty level.

SB 276 would require a community match for the pilot program outside of money already spent on preschool programs. HB 1004 would allow communities to count money already invested in preschool programs for the community match, and the bill would also expand private school vouchers.

Abbie Smith, president of the United Way of Howard County, said she would love to see the program expand and to see Howard County included if money already invested in programs, such as the YMCA’s early childhood education programs, could count as the match. If not, Smith said the pilot program probably wouldn’t be feasible in the county.

Jeff Hauswald, superintendent of the Kokomo School Corporation, said he has concerns about expanding the eligibility for the preschool program because schools already have trouble serving families that can’t afford preschool. He added that he does not agree with the bill’s provision that would expand private school vouchers.

However, he said he would like to see better funding for early childhood education so it could expand across the state without hurting those students in the lowest-income families. Overall, Hauswald echoed Luna and Tickler, saying that preschool can be one of the most helpful tools in helping prepare students for kindergarten.