I always tell our staff that I know that we're
right on target and the kids are right there with you, when they're kind of
coming up out of their seats and they're leaning forward and want to get to the
teacher. Van Gorder, “We know we've got them engaged in an activity, and when
you're engaged, you're learning.” The children were given standardized tests at
the start of preschool and their
progress has been carefully calculated. A number of children ━ a third of all tested ━
scored so low they would likely need special education when entering elementary
school. But after two years in Granite's high quality early education program,
only a few of those students were
assigned to special ed. Jason, Rey, Diego and Maria were among the low-scoring
students. They are in fifth grade now, and have been testing as well in math
and language arts as the kids in high-income schools
( raising children)
.
Van Gorder, “All of these four children were in a
range where they were potentially eligible for special education at that
moment... My mom wanted to move me to another school, but I'm like, ‘No, please
- please, no!’ We didn't put them in special ed.” We found that over four years the state alone
saved a big sum of money, and if you include the federal savings, that was an
additional sum. Osmond, “We have an opportunity to mainstream these students
and save significant dollars down the road. And there is the statistical
historical evidence that it will work.” In the face of ongoing opposition,
Senator Osmond continues to push forward two bills, one to start more pilot
preschools, the other to keep them all sustainable. Osmond, “The concept of
sustainable financing is allocating budget right now as a set-aside to be able
to reinvest again in the future based on future savings that you hope that you
will realize, thus creating kind of cyclical nature that there is always
funding available for this particular program ( raising children) .”
The reality is, though, that we still need to
prove to the legislature and to many groups in the state that that investment
is worth it. It seems like we do a lot of this early intervention, but it seems
to wash out by the time students get in the seventh or eighth grade. I'd like
to find out why that's the case. We're not seeing the washouts. Not only are
they not washing out, they're still at the top of their class. They left
preschool and entered kindergarten at the top, and they are maintaining at the
top. And if they're maintaining at the top, Granite district's preschool
program is reversing a seemingly intractable national trend, where the
achievement gap between high-income and low-income children has widened ( raising children).
A two-point gap between low-income and high-income
schools in the Granite School District in language arts was reduced for the preschoolers
to a five-point gap. It's so compelling you cannot avoid having the
conversation "Why not invest early?" High quality child-care and
preschool is just one piece of the solution. Early childcare education is not a
panacea. You have to have clean, safe neighborhoods, good food, good
communities, you have a support system around us all. Economists are clear
about the equation our system is paying for failure, rather than investing in
success. Not just one study, there are actually four independent longitudinal
studies on early ed, all getting very, very high annual rates of return. The
question is, What will we do about it? How much are we willing to invest for
the long term? When are we going to get crazy about our kids? We've invested in
many things that help make this country as great as it is. But we have not
shown that same level investment in our youngest citizens. And I think, if we
do, we can truly make this country live up to its marvelous promise ( raising children).
This is Adam Norman, a 30-year-old father and a journalist. I consider being a father as my full-time duty, which comes before my actual job of journalism. As a father, there will always be new challenges for me to face everyday while raising my kids. This is where the idea of this website came from. I wanted to give out my experience, along with the experience of others, to all parents out there who need an advice with raising their kids.
ConversionConversion EmoticonEmoticon