EXCERPT FROM: Macon News
By S. Heather Duncan
It’s not only Georgia’s public school and university students who are “racing to the top” using a $400 million federal grant over the next four years, so are the youngest children, before they even start school.
Half of Georgia’s Race to the Top grant will be used toward statewide programming, including initiatives to benefit children from birth to age 5.
Georgia is one of just six states whose applications included initiatives aimed at children before they begin kindergarten, said Holly Robinson, commissioner for the Georgia Department of Early Care and Learning, also called Bright from the Start. That department is in charge of licensing and standards for day cares as well as the Georgia Pre-K Program and will partner with the state Department of Human Resources and the state Department of Education to focus on this age group.
“It was very intelligent and forward-thinking to have included (early childhood) in Race to the Top,” said Julie Moore, executive director of the Bibb County nonprofit Education First. She said that in recent years Bibb County has seen about 200 children arriving for kindergarten each year unprepared — a number that repeatedly parallels the number of students who fail ninth grade.
“We are ahead of some other states in recognizing that age 0 to 5 is one of those untouched areas, and recognizing that if children are being read to and hearing better vocabulary, that makes a huge difference when they walk in the door to kindergarten,” Moore said.
State officials say no decision has been made about what proportion of the funding will go to infants and toddlers.
According to the state’s grant application, early childhood initiatives that would be added or expanded using Race to the Top money include:
n Creating a uniform system for assessing classroom quality from preschool through third grade;
n Improving transitions for children by better coordinating family services (such as health screenings and parental support programs), day cares, pre-K and elementary schools; and
n An initiative to prepare children from birth to age 8 to be able to read at grade level by third grade. Georgia is leading this initiative of the Annie E. Casey Foundation, the charitable foundation of the family that started Georgia-based UPS.
Race to the Top would provide more training to teachers, counselors and others who provide extra support to families.
In many cases, the Race to the Top money would expand or build upon existing programs funded by the state or by stimulus funds.
For example, Bright from the Start has used stimulus funds to provide intensive training to low-performing day cares; define learning standards for the youngest children and Georgia Pre-K; and study the alignment of standards from birth through elementary school. A new student data system will allow kindergarten teachers to look at the records of students enrolled in Georgia Pre-K.
“We’re really looking at enhanced language and literacy, particularly little children because that’s where you have vocabulary building and brain development,” Robinson said. “Georgia is positioned to take a national lead on this.”
The Casey grant, a decade-long initiative, also involves multiple state departments and is being coordinated by Human Resources Department Commissioner B.J. Walker, who is an Annie E. Casey fellow.
Walker said researchers helped the state identify “key transactions” that will help get kids reading at grade level. Skills related to oral language seem to be especially lacking among poor children, who on average have heard 30 million fewer words than the average middle-class child when they enter kindergarten, she said.
Under the grant, the state is launching new initiatives and studying the outcomes in five school systems across the state: Atlanta, Chatham County and Polk County, as well as Dublin and Laurens County in Middle Georgia.
Walker said these systems either had an existing focus on reading or could serve as an active partner in such a campaign. She said she expects to have a plan for expanding some successful strategies from these counties to the rest of the state by next fall.
“A lot is going to be focused on summer preparation, preschool and kindergarten through third grade, and getting students to really work on vocabulary expansion,” said Dublin school Superintendent Chuck Ledbetter. “We know we have a vocabulary gap with students from economically disadvantaged backgrounds.”