Early-Learning Programs Get Needed Nurture
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The News & Advance
Published: May 8, 2008
Although Gov. Timothy M. Kaine did not get all the money he proposed to the 2008 General Assembly to expand early childhood education across Virginia, he did get money to nurture early-learning programs around the state.
And that program has become an active one, leading to pilot projects that show cooperation and intense commitment to provide quality early childhood education in public and private preschools.
That was the message brought to Lynchburg the other weekend by Kathy Glazer, director of the governor’s newly created Office of Early Childhood Development.
Most educators say that early childhood education is vitally important to a child’s progress through primary and elementary school. Many will say that the state has not assigned those programs the importance they deserve.
Kaine’s proposed expansion of the program to public and private preschool settings fell victim to budget cuts demanded by lawmakers, but they did approve as much as $22 million for the Virginia Preschool Initiative that includes pilot projects for preschool providers.
One of those initiatives, said Glazer, is the Alignment Project that seeks to ensure that guidelines developed for early childhood education mesh with the skills and competencies of the adults providing preschool education. A couple of booklets have come out of that effort relating to improving the skills of those adults involved in the classroom.
In developing quality programs, Glazer said the governor wanted assurance that the preschool programs for at-risk children would not be delivered entirely in the public schools. “We have many Head Starts and many child care providers who’ve been around for decades and have done a great job of providing these kinds of services for young children,” she said. Such new programs are being assessed in communities ranging from military child care and nonprofit centers to for-profits and Head Start in the public schools.
The early years are crucial because of rapid brain growth, researchers say, and because of it children who attend high quality preschool have a greater chance of success throughout their school years and beyond.
In proposing the expanded program, which he called Start Strong, Kaine projected it would accommodate an additional 17,000 low-income youngsters within five years.
“Increasing access to high-quality preschool programs will mean that more of Virginia’s children are ready to learn when they enter kindergarten, giving them a better chance for success throughout their K-12 experience,” Kaine said last August.
In connection with the preschool initiative, Glazer said, the state is also trying to establish a coordinated system of training and education available to preschool providers. “We want to make sure all teachers have access to a continuum of training and education to improve on their skills,” she said.
The emphasis on teaching skills shows the state is serious about giving low-income youngsters in a variety of settings the very best education they can get at that level. Those teachers can — and will — make a huge difference in the lives and futures of those youngsters.
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Reader Reactions
Posted by ( Cosmo Wafflefoot ) on May 11, 2008 at 3:49 pm
( amomfirst )… That sure is a funny name for someone who has kids and then expects the State to pick up the tab. Are you one of those people who work because they enjoy it? Why should the rest of us subsidise your enjoyment? Did you have children that you couldn’t afford to raise? Nice going! Planning on having more? Great! There are lots of uneducated minimum wage employees out there that the State can hire to raise your kids. That’s what parenting is all about, after all. Isn’t it “amomfirst”? Your convenience, at somebody else’s expense of course.
Posted by ( Cosmo Wafflefoot ) on May 10, 2008 at 5:58 am
Molly, why should you “hate to say it”? It’s a clear sign of progress on your part. This is wonderful. I venture to say that as time passes and you become ever more mature you will begin to see that all of my posts are equally sensible and enlightening. Now, before you go off half-cocked I want you to understand that I adore the concept of Public Schools. It’s the parents and administrators I have no respect for. I respect competition in the academic arena from which self esteem naturally arises. High self esteem is NOT a birthright as these psychological ninnies in education would have us believe. Children SHOULD want to make their parents proud and parents should be held responsible for failing to teach their children manners and a desire to achieve excellence in the classroom and in life. Anything less than that is an abduction of their responsibility as a parent. Shame should be the natural result. IF it takes a “village” to raise a child that village must be made up of people who hold each other to standards of excellence. THAT is how you restore the integrity and greatness of what once was our Public Schools. Home schooling is a selfish attempt to make copies of yourself. Our children should surpass us not copy us. Religious primary education is pure indoctrination, out of the mainstream and counter productive in more ways than I have space to list. But, I am even more appalled at the idea of farming our children out to an army of minimum wage, uneducated women who can’t find employment anyplace else and calling it “school”, pre or otherwise. Treating it as a “mothers right”, at taxpayers expense of course, is an admission as a society that we really don’t give a damn about either our future and our children. [Here is where you get to hate me again] Religion clearly makes things worse. Some things are unforgivable! Giving your problems to Jesus or Allah doesn’t solve them! If it did the Bible Belt wouldn’t lead our nation in divorce, crimes committed with a gun, illiteracy, low wages and least amount of money spent on public education. No one can be expected to do a good job in this life if their primary focus isn’t on it. Or, if they are erroneously lead to believe that supernatural events will “fix” their mistakes for them. Worse yet if they are lead to believe that any minute now the world will just go poof and only “their” fellow believers will float off to heaven. Parenting is the most serious business humans can engage in. Parents who take it that way rarely fail. Those that don’t rarely succeed.
Posted by ( amomfirst ) on May 09, 2008 at 4:40 pm
What a ridiculous statement below. Good childcare is hard to find, and many families do not have the option of having one parent stay home. (why does this have to be the mother anyway?) Schools require more and more of our children, and they must have the proper educational foundation when they start school.
It’s about time the state started investing in our children from the start rather than wasting money years down the road trying to fix the problems that could have been prevented simply by giving kids a good foundation with early education.
This city in particular needs more quality childcare. Not everyone has the luxury of being able to stay home. And believe it or not, some people work because they enjoy it. That doesn’t make you a bad parent.
Posted by ( molly brown ) on May 09, 2008 at 1:01 pm
Wow, Cosmo, I never thought the day would come, but here it is: as much as I hate to say it, I completely agree with you.
Posted by ( luv2bliberal ) on May 09, 2008 at 9:11 am
Well said Cosmo!
Posted by ( Cosmo Wafflefoot ) on May 09, 2008 at 5:45 am
More taxpayers money for babysitting. Sometimes I think people would be happiest if their children could go directly from the birthing room to day care. Well, “Most educators say” is the key phrase here. These would be the educators who have presided over a failed system? The ones in Lynchburg who have a graduation rate of 63%? The same ones in charge of a system that, on their watch, has slipped ever lower compared to other countries in the world. Give me a break! If there was ten cents worth of truth in their assertions it would have put us at the top of the world of education, not the bottom. Surely I can not be the only person that remembers when America lead the world in Public Education? No pre-school then! When America lead the world in the production of scientists, engineers and technology kids entered Kindergarten without the so called “benefits” of these high tech babysitting schemes. Parents were actually “responsible” for their own children, ALL DAY LONG! How barbaric! In today’s modern world kids are dumped at day care where uneducated strangers making minimum wage are supposed to do a “superior” job of accomplishing what their mothers can’t find the time to do. Now that’s progress. Who would wait on you at Wall-Mart if the taxpayers were not picking up the tab for day care? This is yet another symptom of a culture that does not expect parents to be responsible for their own children. Free time for mom and money to spend on more unnecessary junk is more important than nurturing your own flesh and blood. And we wonder why we slip ever lower on the world stage with regard to education. It begs the question, “Why, oh experts in education, do kids know so much more entering school, but so much LESS when they (if they) come out the other end?” I have a suggestion. If you don’t have the time or inclination to raise and fully nurture your own children, DON’T HAVE ANY! I, for one, am tired of watching my tax money wasted on babysitting the children of women who need to “fulfill” themselves working behind the counter of a Quick-E-Mart. Again, if properly raising YOUR children isn’t the most important thing in your life, DON’T HAVE THEM! Save everybody a lot of trouble and expense.