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Connecting Communities Using Free & Almost Free Services

Joel Ballezza — Thu, 15 May 2008 15:09:27 -0500

The early learning community benefits from passionate individuals from all walks of life. Here in Washington State, this community includes people from diverse backgrounds and areas. However, connecting these groups can sometimes be a challenge because of geography and distance.

Parents and families getting together from Clallam County might want to share resources with kindergarten teachers brainstorming curriculum in Spokane. This distance apart can sometimes pose a challenge to effective collaboration.

Luckily some free (and almost free) tools exist to help support this dialog on early learning. These resources can help you talk, share documents, and better connect with partners.

Disclaimer: The Foundation for Early Learning does not endorse the use of products mentioned in this blog. They are merely examples of available resources that the community could use. There are plenty of products available on the web - I encourage you to explore the web to see what products will work for your unique needs.

Simple Websites - While hiring a designer and hosting a website is essential for many organizations, sometimes a simple place online to present information works just as well, and can be less time and money intensive.

One option is Google Sites, a free service where you can instantly create a home landing page for your organization or coalition. You can post comments and media, collectively develop documents and can even integrate presentation materials. An example of this service is www.google.com/sites

Conference Calls - Many times packed schedules or a group’s distance apart can make phone calls a better option than in-person meetings. When you’re ready to set up your conference call, a few services can help. If you don’t mind covering your long distance charges, you can use www.FreeConferenceCall.com, an inexpensive teleconferencing service that permits dozens of call participants on the same line, at the same time.

If the call organizer wants to provide a toll-free calling number for participants, you can choose another conference call service – www.simpletollfree.com. This site provides set rates and no contract is required.

Group Email Messages - In addition to group phone calls, group messaging can be an effective way to bridge geographical distance between members. While most email programs (Microsoft Outlook, etc) permit group messages, many restrict this to at most 50 addresses per email. One solution to this is to create your own mailing list. You then simply send out a single message to the unique email address, and it is in turn sent to all subscribers. Two free options include:

Yahoo Groups - http://groups.yahoo.com

Google Groups – http://groups.google.com

Document Sharing - What happens when you need to send a large file to a friend or collation member? Forget copying files to a CD-ROM and mailing the disk, try using YouSendIt.com. This service (free for up to 100mb per message) enables you to zip together several documents or send one large file to friends. After uploading the file, you enter you email address and the recipient’s address and in a few moment they will receive an email with a link to the file to download. It is that easy and quick. Try it out at www.yousendit.com

I hope these resources make communicating with partners across town and across Washington State easier. If you have any questions, or would like help using these resources, please let me know at joel@earlylearning.org.

Do you have any other free or low-cost communication resources you would suggest?

Feel free to share them by adding a comment below.

A picture is worth a thousand words

Joel Ballezza — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 11:34:46 -0500

Greetings

I am not going to spend a lot of time writing about the quality of child care in our state and nation. I think that the picture below is an eloquent illustration of how far we have to go to make sure that every child in child care is receiving high quality services. I am happy that our state has adopted a Quality Rating and Improvement System (QRIS) to improve child care in Washington State but the work is just beginning.

Education, training, better wages, benefits and an acknowledgment by society that child care is a vital and important part of our children’s development are necessary to move the process along. We have to work together in order to make a difference in the environments that many parents are forced to leave their children when they go to work. I hope you will all join me in this important work.

Jeanne

Foundation for Early Learning Is 8 Years Old

Joel Ballezza — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 11:40:38 -0500

On April 10, 2000, the leaders of the Governor’s Commission for Early Learning incorporated the Washington Early Learning Foundation, later renamed to Foundation for Early Learning to reflect what the organization does- which is building the foundations necessary for early learning to flourish in Washington State. Mona Locke became the board chair and the founding board was comprised of Kathryn Barnard, Jim Sinegal, Jim Dagnon and Tom Vander Ark. The mission of the newly formed foundation was that every child in Washington State would enter school prepared to be successful. Eight years later, the Foundation for Early Learning is still working to make sure that every child in Washington enters school prepared to succeed. I have had the privilege of being the first Executive Director, hired in October 2000. It seems fitting for me to be writing this now as I will be stepping down in September and making way for a new Executive Director to take the Foundation to its next level of development and success.

A lot has happened in the past eight years, both for the Foundation and for the field of Early Learning. We now have quite a few partners and funders who are focused on Early Learning, a governor who has made it a priority, Nobel Laureates in Economics preaching the value of investing in young children, and presidential candidates talking about early learning as a vital part of the education continuum. It hasn’t always been this way and I am proud that the Foundation for Early Learning has played and continues to play an important role in the evolution of the early learning field. Below are some of the accomplishments the Foundation has over the years:

2000

First grant given to support the “TEACH” program - a scholarship program for childcare providers to get their degrees and certifications
Foundation funded first statewide public engagement campaign

2001

First round of grants given
Foundation starts the Affinity Group for Funders of Early Learning

2002

Foundation, Project Lift Off and other partners receive a federal Early Learning Opportunity Act grant to link Family, Friend and Neighbor providers and start Getting School Ready® campaign in King County.
Foundation and partners develop and distribute Getting School Ready® booklets

2003

Foundation starts Early Care and Education Coalition (EC2) to create a statewide public awareness campaign. Kirlin Foundation and CHEF join EC2 as funders.
First Leadership Luncheon is held with former Governor Jim Hunt of North Carolina as the keynote speaker
Foundation joins Early Childhood Funders Collaborative (ECFC), a national group of funders
Planning and implementation grants given to Clark County to establish Project SELF, a coalition of service providers in early learning.

2004

EC2 becomes a public/private partnership with 20 members
Foundation invests in Clark County to create the Clark County Early Learning Fund Honoring Rick and Sarah Melching (CCELF)
First Leadership Luncheon held in Clark County to benefit CCELF
Foundation hosts ECFC in Seattle; Gates Foundation and Kirlin Foundation become members of ECFC
Foundation transfers the responsibility for the Affinity Group for Funders of Early Learning to Philanthropy Northwest

2005

Foundation partners with Boeing and the State to ensure that Getting School Ready® booklets go out in Child Profile mailings
Foundation, Gates Foundation and Talaris begin discussion re: a Public/Private Partnership dedicated to early learning in Washington State
2006
Foundation board votes to allow EC2 become Thrive by Five Washington (TBF)
Mona Locke joins TBF board Jeanne Anderson joins TBF Advisory Council
Board develops a new approach in grantmaking for the Foundation - coalition building, technical assistance and support

2007

New grantmaking strategy is finalized and publicly unveiled
Mona Locke steps down as board chair after seven years; Marleen Alhadeff becomes new board chair

2008

Foundation funds and provides technical assistance to Getting School Ready® coalitions in 23 Washington counties
Foundation partners with 23 public libraries across the state to “bring the libraries to the early learning table”
Foundation sponsors and participates in Seeds of Compassion

These are just a sampling of the Foundation’s accomplishments. When I look at what has happened these past eight years, I have a profound sense of pride and joy for what we achieved. Leaving this wonderful organization and the people associated with it is difficult but I know that it is the best thing for me to do - for the Foundation, the children, my family and me. I look forward to reading what the next Executive Director has to report eight years from now.

Thanks so much for your support

Jeanne

A Child’s Grief

Jeanne Anderson — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 17:04:54 -0600

**Update**
A reader of this blog just told me of a wonderful resource in Seattle for children dealing with the loss of a loved one. It is called the Safe Crossings Foundation. All the services are free and they help children and their parents to get through the grieving process in a healthy and loving way. Please check them out.

-Jeanne

***

Last week a young woman who was a volunteer for the Foundation for Early Learning died. She was a single mother and left behind two sons under the age of five. A friend of mine knows of another young mother of two young children who is in the hospital struggling for her life. This woman’s husband approached my friend and asked him if he knew of any books that would help him explain to his children what is happening to their mother. He also wanted to know of any book that would help him explain death to his children if it comes to that.

My friend asked me if I knew of any resources. I naturally pointed him to the libraries and their staff, especially the Early Learning specialists many libraries now have. I also told him to look online.

After I talked with my friend, I started remembering things that I had long ago stored away in a very remote part of my brain. My mother died at the age of 36 and left behind five children ages eight, seven, six, three and two. I was the seven year old child.

The grieving that my two brothers (ages eight and six) and I experienced was very different than the one that our two younger siblings went through. We three remember vividly the events that surrounded our mother’s illness and eventual death. While we were overwhelmed and confused and sad and frightened, we were able to grasp to some degree what was happening and how our lives might change without our mother. We also had memories and experiences with our mother that the two youngest didn’t have. We remembered trips, our first day of school, picnics, building snowmen and going to the ocean with our mother. We grieved for the person and we grieved for the life that could have been.

In reading the literature about how children under the age of five deal with the death of a parent, I found out that it is a very different process. While my younger brother and sister were aware of our mother’s absence, they didn’t really understand why she was gone. Young children don’t grasp the idea of the permanency of death and have limited memory of experiences and events that happened with their mother. The relationship is at a very different level.

Losing a parent at a young age has a profound affect on a child’s life. The person who was supposed to be there as the child grows up and enters school, and goes on to adulthood is missing. Other people may come in to take that person’s place, but it is never the same.

When I talk with my younger siblings about our mother, they don’t have the memory of grief that my two other brothers and I have. They know something has always been missing but because they only have vague memories of this person called Mom, they don’t grieve for her as much as they grieve for what they never had, while my other two brothers and I grieve for our mother and for what we lost.

I found the following website to be very informative and helpful for people who have to talk to a young child about death. Additionally, Betsy Kluck-Keil, the Early Learning librarian at the Seattle Public library had these suggestions:

The Purple Balloon by Chris Raschka

Badger's Parting Gifts by Susan Varley

Lifetimes: a beautiful way to explain death to children by Bryan Mellonie Everett

Anderson's Goodbye by Lucille Clifton

These may be age appropriate...but as always, the adult should pre-read them to see if they would fit.

Betsy also recommends this website.

If you have any resources you would like to share, please post them. One book that I found especially useful to me as an adult trying to understand the impact my mother’s death had on me is called Motherless Daughters: The Legacy of Loss by Hope Edelman. It helped me understand quite a bit about myself and one thing that stood out was the fact that many women who lose their mothers at a very early age never learn how to accessorize their clothing. A small point perhaps but I finally understood why I could never figure out what scarf went with which earrings, shoes, purse, etc. and I stopped worrying about it.

Let me hear from you,

Jeanne

What voters think about Early Learning

Jeanne Anderson — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 12:08:29 -0600

The Department of Early Learning for Washington State recently contracted with Craciun Research Group to poll a sampling of registered voters in our state about what they know about Early Learning and the Dept. of Early Learning. Craciun polled 508 Washington voters (152 were parents of children birth to age five) during the period from December 17, 2007 and January 3, 2008. Craciun stated that the fact that it used registered voters tended to skew the number of respondents to older, Caucasians from middle to high income families. As you read these results, please keep this fact in mind. Below are questions that were asked and the answers the researchers got from the interviewees.

In your opinion, when do you think a child begins learning?

95% of those surveyed believe that children begin learning at birth or during the first year

What are the most important factors in kindergarten readiness?

84% of those surveyed believe that “Listening and following directions and getting along with other children” are major factors in kindergarten readiness

Less than half (42%) considered physical readiness such as writing his or her name or using scissors or marking pens very important

What is the community’s responsibility to young children?

76% of those surveyed believe that it is a community responsibility to support the government in funding opportunities for children who do not currently have access to early learning opportunities

What is the most trusted source of parenting information for you?

70% trust only people with whom they have close contact

13% trust books and libraries

12% trust other parenting experts

6% trust their own instincts most of all

I found this research to be fascinating and encouraging for several reasons. The first is the percentage of the people polled who believed that learning begins at birth or in the first year. The second is that social emotional skills were considered much more important than cognitive skills when assessing kindergarten readiness. The third reason is for the fact that despite the internet and all the other media surrounding us today, parents are still turning to trusted friends, parents and siblings to get advice and information on parenting. Finally, I was happy to see that the majority of people surveyed believe that the government has a responsibility to make early learning opportunities available to children who may not have them otherwise.

Are you surprised with these results? It is a small sample and I don't think we can extrapolate the findings out very far but I see it as good information on how 508 registered voters in the state of Washington feel about Early Learning.

Let me know what you think.

Jim Heckman, an advocate for Early Learning

Jeanne Anderson — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 16:06:52 -0600

Greetings

Two weeks ago I had the privilege of meeting with Dr. James Heckman when he was visiting at Washington State University. Dr Heckman is much admired by the early learning community because of the work he did on the return on investment society gets for investing in children birth through age five. His findings are based on research results from two longitudinal studies done on high quality preschool programs that were offered to low income, at risk children.

According to Heckman's findings, for every dollar society spends on children from birth to age five, it saves $17 later on. The study shows that school dropout rates, teen pregnancy, joblessness, incarceration and a host of other negative issues are decreased when a child has the opportunity to attend a high quality preschool.

Imagine how exciting it was for me to be with eight other early learning people and Dr Heckman for an hour. The surprizing thing was that he saw it as an opportunity to learn things from us! In fact when the person escorting him around came to get him for his next meeting Heckman asked if he could have a few more minutes with us.

Heckman told us that his research has led him to believe in the power of non cognitive skills or social emotional development as the deciding factor in the successful development of a child. He stated that although the children in the study had the same IQ ten years after their preschool experience, they were much more successful then the control group because of their social emotional maturity.

Later that day, Heckman spoke to a crowd of over 300 students and facility in Economics and again praised early learning as the best investment we can make as a society. You gotta love this guy.

Let me know what you think.

Jeanne

Every child needs a laptop

Melissa Jennings — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 13:55:17 -0400

The other day I got a cup of chai at a local coffee store. I noticed - the bigger the cup, the longer the quote. Since I ordered a grande, the quote on my cup was quite long.

The quote was from Colin Powell and while I don’t remember the whole thing, the first line was provocative and memorable, it said “ Every child needs a laptop.” As I continued to read the quote, I saw that he was not talking about the laptop we plug-in but the one that is available whenever we sit down.

His basic message was that every child needed loving people in his life who would hold him, read to him and make him feel secure.

As I read on, I saw that Powell was not just talking about parents; he included grandparents, aunts and uncles, teachers, caregivers and other caring adults. The underlying message seemed to be that it does take a village to raise a child.

Apparently some ideas can transcend politics.

After being inspired by the lofty thoughts on the side of my grande soy chai, I was saddened to see that the expansion of SCHIP was vetoed.

There are too many children without health care in this country. They are without health care through no fault of their own and they will continue not to have coverage for the minor illnesses and growing pains of their youth. They will continue to be seen in the ER for earaches and colds by over-extended emergency room nurses and doctors because there isn’t any other choice for them.

Surely we can do better.

If not now, when?

Jeanne Anderson — Fri, 05 Oct 2007 14:35:00 -0400

Greetings,

This week I learned of a blog post in the New York Times that talks about the important role of parents as their children’s first teachers and I wanted to share it with you.

Wil Okun is a Chicago school teacher who teaches English and Photography. One of his recent blog posts “If Not Now” asks questions about the level of involvement parents have in their children’s learning between the ages of zero to five.

In his post he asks
• Why are some parents not teaching their infants basic skills like numbers, colors, letters and objects?
• If the period between ages zero to five is the most important in a child’s development, why is early childhood education and care not a national priority?
• Should the government play a larger role in early childhood development or should that responsibility continue to rest primarily in the hands of the individual families?
• Can a child who is already academically deficient as early as Head Start or Kindergarten ever catch up to grade level, and if so, how?
• How can we get parents involved in their children’s pre-K education and how can we maintain that educational involvement into college?

Mr Okun’s blog and his questions certainly hit a chord with readers. There are more than 170 comments to his blog post. The views and opinions vary greatly, and I think its exciting to see these questions being raised by an individual outside the field of early learning. I hope you will take a moment to read what he has to say and let me (and him) know what you think. Do you agree, disagree or have something to add?

Let me know what you are thinking. It is always great to hear from you.

School Days

Jeanne Anderson — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 00:00:00 -0400

It’s September and many parents have taken their five year-old to Kindergarten. If you listen quietly, you might hear the earth move just a little bit.

Taking your child to school for the first time can sometimes be more traumatic for the parents than the child. Thinking back to when my oldest son started school brought back a flood of memories.

I was 26 years old when he started Kindergarten and believed that kids should be able to adjust to whatever teacher they got and that this adjustment was part of their socialization. I had been told that his Kindergarten teacher was “an old school disciplinarian” and I didn’t know that I could have taken him out of that class and put him in another. My son struggled all year with this teacher. I was constantly being told that he didn’t pay attention, acted out and wasn’t learning. At the risk of understatement, it was NOT a good year.

In first grade my son had a wonderful teacher who, two weeks into the school year, asked if she could have him tested for Learning Disabilities. I allowed it, and I am glad I did because it turned out that he did indeed have Learning Disabilities. Immediately a support plan was developed to help my son succeed in school.

The experience taught me several things:

• Always advocate for your child

• Never be afraid to be the “problem parent” to the school

• Demand to have your child moved if you feel s/he is not being treated properly

• Agree to testing even if you think there is nothing wrong with your child. (Let me explain why I think this is important.)
When my younger son was in 2nd grade, his teacher wanted him tested for Learning Disabilities. I knew he didn’t have them and also knew that if he wasn’t tested, the teacher would treat him differently. Sure enough, he was not Learning Disabled. His grades went up and his teacher worked with him in a completely different way.

The resources listed below can be a big help for parents and families whose children are just starting school:

• The Children’s Home Society of Washington has resources for parents to use to become involved in their child’s school.

• The University of Washington has a web site that lists resources, Washington State Resources for Parents of Children and Youth with Disabilities.

I would love to hear your "back to school" stories as parents or as children.
Thank you for reading.

Jeanne

Look Mom! No Cavities!

Jeanne Anderson — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 18:35:00 -0400

Greetings

Recently I received a letter from the President and CEO of the Washington Dental Service, James Dwyer (I know what you are thinking-is she really going to talk about dentistry? But please read on). In this letter, Mr. Dwyer shares his concerns about a "growing childhood health problem - tooth decay and poor oral hygiene among very young children." Mr. Dwyer goes on to say that a recent state survey found that the rate of tooth decay among the children of Washington State is growing and that one in five elementary school-aged children have rampant untreated decay-cavities in seven or more teeth.

This report got my attention as I found myself in the dental chair last week for a root canal procedure. Since the Endodontist got to do most of the talking, he shared with me that his five year old daughter was going in to get her first filling for a cavity. This is the child of a dentist!

Following this story on a national level, I found this article from the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry (AAPD). The article states, to keep the frequency and duration of sugar exposure in check, the AAPD offers these recommendations:

Fill sippy cups with water only. Children shouldn’t sip on sugary drinks or munch on sugary foods for extended periods of time. If you give your child beverages other than water, serve them in a can or glass and limit consumption time. If you do provide sugary drinks in sippy or other types of cups, instruct children to finish them quickly. Take away the cup after a reasonable amount of time.
Don’t let children go to sleep with bottles. Even milk can cause tooth decay. If you do put your child to sleep with a bottle, it should contain water only.
Limit candy. Sucking on candy is another way that kids can extend exposure to sugar.
Limit sweets and the time it takes for kids to consume them, and make sure children brush afterward.
Brush after meals. Have your children maintain proper oral hygiene, including brushing after meals and snacks and daily flossing, to reduce the risk of cavities.

There is a federal program called the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) that provides health and dental care to low income children.

All children enrolled in Medicaid are entitled to comprehensive dental services. Medicaid's "Early and Periodic Screening, Diagnosis and Treatment (EPSDT)" program, the nation's primary source of well-child care for low-income youth through age 20, must provide dental examinations for all children. The program must also provide necessary treatment or services to correct or ameliorate defects found, regardless of whether the follow-up services are otherwise covered under the state Medicaid plan.

The states have some flexibility in determining when the first dental examination occurs under EPSDT. Current recommendations by the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry, the American Dental Association and the Bright Futures Project recommend the first dental visit at about age 1.

But being entitled to services and actually receiving them are two different things.

In 1996, only about 17 percent of Medicaid-enrolled children received the required EPSDT dental services, down from 18 percent in 1994 and 1995.
Only one in five children eligible for a dental screening actually gets it. When children do not receive the appropriate dental screenings, Medicaid pays the higher price of treating advanced dental disease in children. Five percent of the kids eligible for services consume 30 percent of the dollars spent on dental care.

For example:

Children with swollen faces, painful toothaches and abscessed teeth may end up in the emergency room. The treatments they receive in this setting generally address their infection and pain, but not the underlying disease-tooth decay. A visit to the emergency room averages about $100 and children may walk out the door with their teeth untouched.
Baby-bottle tooth decay, a preventable disease, requires very expensive treatment if not identified and managed early. HCFA estimates that Medicaid pays at least $100 million and as much as $900 million per year for operating room charges associated with this disease on top of thousands of dollars in dental fees per case.

The other problem is that SCHIP is now up for reauthorization in September and all indications look like the funds will either be frozen at current levels, (which will lead to a significant shortfall) or it will be vetoed.

Keep an eye on this legislation. We can't afford to have our children go without medical and dental care. Their future is too important.

The tragedy of ignoring this was brought home to everyone when a young child died of untreated cavities during Oral Health Month this year.

We can do better

Dismal condition of Child Well Being in the United States

Jeanne Anderson — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 00:00:00 -0400

Greetings

Recently a board member sent me the UNICEF Innocenti Report on Child Poverty in perspective: An Overview of Child Well-Being in Rich Countries.

This report looked at six different areas of child well being in 25 countries around the world. These countries are predominently European with the United States and Canada included. The findings were based on data collected by each country.

The areas of well being looked at for the purpose of this report are: Material Well Being, Health and Safety, Educational Well Being, Family and Peers Relationship, Behaviors and Risks and Subjective Well Being. The last area used a survey of 11, 13 and 15 year olds who responded to questions posed by the interviewers.

All you have to do in order to get depressed is scan the charts that show the ranking of countries in each of the areas of well being. The United States come in at the bottom in nearly every one of the area unless the chart is showing negative results and then we score pretty high. I was almost thankful to the United Kingdom as that country was usually just above or below us.

A summary of the results show the following:

The Netherlands scored the highest in child well being
The European countries consistently dominated the top half of the charts, especially the Nordic countries who scored high in all areas.
The United States and the United Kingdom were in the bottom third in five of the six areas of child well being
There was no obvious relationship between levels of child well being and a country's GDP

In case you don't want to read the whole report or check out all the charts, I have summarized some of the findings below. Be warned, you will not feel good about what you read.

The US scored last out of 25 countries in Health and Safety. The measures used were:

Death rate of children before the age of one
Percentage of low birth rate
Percentage of childrenbetween the ages of 12-23 months who are immunized (we didn't do too badly on this one)
Number of deaths per accident (we did badly on this)

The US scored 14th of 25 on Educational Well Being. The measures used were:

School achievement by age 15 in the following area:Average achievement in reading, math and science literacy
Percentage of 15-19 year olds remaining in education
Percentage of 15 year olds expecting to get low skill jobs

The US scored 21st of 25 in the achievement of 15 year olds in reading, math and science.

The US scored 24th of 25 in Relationships of young people to families and peers. The measures used were:

Percentage of children in single parent families.
Percentage of children in stepfamilies
Percentage of children reporting eating main meal with their parents more than once a week
Percentage of children reporting that they spend time with their parents "just talking"
Percentage of children who find their peers kind and helpful.

Have you had enough? This report is so depressing and such an indictment of the adults in the United States. Clearly, we are a country that does not value children. Clearly, we are a country that doesn't keep its children safe or healthy. Clearly, we are a country that has a hard time carving out some time in our busy lives to "just talk" to our children.

I don't have any answers to what we should or shouldn't do. Obviously we can learn from other countries who have clearly put their children in a much more valued position. We can start advocating loudly and consistently for better health care, high quality child care, decent wages for child care providers and teachers and everyone else who works with children and their parents. We can begin to cherish our children as much or even more than we cherish our possessions. We can begin to stop thinking about "getting ahead" and figure out how to "get along". And even if you don't have children, you can still feel responsible for them.

The study begins with a quote (no author cited)

"The true measure of a nation's standing is how well it attends to its children-their health and safety, their material security, their education and socialization and their sense of being loved, valued, and included in the families and societies into which they are born."

Surely we can reverse this disheartening trend. Surely we can move up that chart to a place that makes us all proud and that tells the rest of the world that we value our children and take care of them and keep them safe. Because if we can't or won't, then what's the point?

Jeanne

Is it good for the children?

Jeanne Anderson — Mon, 11 Jun 2007 00:00:00 -0400

Greetings

I recently attended a conference for a coalition of early learning providers and heard someone say that the group always asked the question "Is it good for the children?" whenever they make decisions affecting the children of their community. What a great idea! If we all could remember to ask that question before decisions were made, the world and our children would benefit.

There was a recent article in the New York Times magazine section that was titled
"When Should a Kid Start Kindergarten?" As I read this article, I kept thinking back the the question, "Is it good for the children?". Apparently "redshirting", the practice by parents to hold their children back a year from entering kindergarten, is increasing. Parents who do this want their children to be more socially and emotionally mature, enter kindergarten reading and knowing their numbers and letters and generally have an "edge". The vast majority of these parents are middle to upper middle income parents who can afford pre-school, high quality childcare and even private school for kindergarten and beyond.

So what about the kids whose parents have no choice? What if putting the child in kindergarten reduces the amount of money they have had to pay for childcare while they are at work? If their child has a birthday in August and is in a class with a child who also has a birthday in August but is a year older and has had enriched learning experiences prior to entering school, how does this younger child catch up?

I am not advocating that parents send kids to school if they think they are too young and won't have the advantage of maturity. Every parent should do what is best for her his child. However, the fact that "school readiness" has become more and more about having some basic academic skills instead of about children just having basic social skills has put a tremendous burden on the children and the parents. As the article states "Curriculum planners no longer ask, What does a 5-year-old need? Instead they ask, If a student is to pass reading and math tests in third grade, what does the student need to be doing in the prior grades?"

The article is fascinating and a "must read". Throughout it, I kept asking myself, "Is it good for the children?" I couldn't answer yes. Maybe the other question we need to keep asking is "What does the child need?" rather than "What does the child need to do".

Let me hear from you.

Jeanne