Breaking the cycle

~Experts say early childhood learning is key to improving test scores for black, special needs and low-income students. The United Way is launching a new program with that goal in mind.

Twenty-five percent of children entering kindergarten in Cape Girardeau public schools do not have the basic skills needed to begin progressing educationally. Some can't differentiate between colors.

Twenty percent of the students who enter Central High School as freshmen are failing to graduate. The same is true for more than 40 percent of black students there.

Missouri Assessment Program scores of black students are comparable to scores of special-education students in Cape Girardeau. Scores for low-income students are similar.

Nancy Jernigan, executive director of the United Way of Southeast Missouri, thinks these statistics are linked and that breaking the cycle will require increasing access to early childhood learning in the city and improving existing child care.

The city needs more accredited child care providers, she says. Only four are currently accredited. "Research shows that kids are more successful if they go through an accredited program," Jernigan says.

But the accreditation process can be costly and takes three years. A quality rating system for child care that has been adopted by other states is one alternative that could give parents better information about the care their child might receive.

Recent studies underscore the importance of early childhood education to a child's overall development. The Carolina Abecedarian Project studied low-income children who received high-quality child care from infancy through age 5. Their progress was followed up at ages 12, 15 and 21. Compared to a control group, these children achieved higher scores in cognitive tests, completed more years of education and had their first child at an older age. Their mothers went on to acquire more education and employment status than mothers in the control group.

The United Way is trying to bring that message home. A program called Success by 6 has provided scholarships to help child care providers educate their staffs and has paid for aides to help autistic students. At one time the program helped subsidize child care for low-income families, but Jernigan said they realized they could not handle the demand.

New program

Born Learning, a new United Way program to be introduced Oct. 6 at Central Junior High School, emphasizes to parents the importance of reading, singing and playing with children. "The message we're putting out is kindergarten readiness," Jernigan said.

One goal of Born Learning is to teach parents what to look for in child care providers.

The Cape Girardeau School District gauges readiness for kindergarten through tests of a child's motor, concepts and language skills. In response to worrisome scores among some students, pre-K classes for 4-year-olds began operating this year at Blanchard and Jefferson schools in Cape Girardeau. Blanchard has 15 students in its morning session, 15 in the afternoon and a waiting list. The cost is $2 per day for children eligible for the free lunch program, $4 per day for children in the reduced lunch program, and $8 per day for children who don't qualify for either.

One goal of the class is to acclimate the students to the social skills and work habits they will need in school, said principal Dr. Barbara Kohlfeld. The students have the same curriculum kindergarteners have, but the schedule is abbreviated.

"It's important that everything we do is developmentally appropriate for the child," Kohlfeld said. "There's a big difference between 4- and 5-year-olds." Dr. Mary Elizabeth Ambery, a professor who teaches early childhood education development at Southeast Missouri State University, worries that socialization skills may be getting pushed into a corner by the "high stakes testing movement," cognitive tests that effect how much funding schools receive. "There are theorists who believe very strongly that it is socialization of that child into the culture of the community that will enable the child to succeed," Ambery says. "... Just being comfortable with who you are, that to me is the real precursor for learning."

The acquisition of language is considered crucially important at this age. The Carolina Abecedarian Project found that language development was instrumental in raising cognitive test scores. But some students enter kindergarten with a vocabulary as small as 100 words.

"Young children need to be exposed to millions of words," Kohlfeld said, "so that when they listen and when they are ready to read, they have a reservoir to draw from."

Ambery thinks some day cares fail or have trouble improving the quality of their care because of the lack of a good business plan. Accredited centers must have one.

Starting from birth

Preparing for kindergarten shouldn't begin at age 4, childhood educators say. Lillian Martin, director of the Head Start program in Cape Girardeau, says the city lacks adequate day care for infants and toddlers. "It starts from birth," she said.

The Early Head Start program for children in this age group closed down a few years ago, she says because a mandated merger with the program for older children would have jeopardized the latter.

The University Child Enrichment Center has only eight slots available for infants and 16 for toddlers. That's because the student-to-teacher ratio for this age group is higher. Like most of the city's four accredited child care centers, the center has a waiting list for its infant slots.

Martin, who has worked for Head Start for more than two decades, thinks providing more quality child care would improve graduation rates in the city. "I believe it's the most important thing, but everybody's pushing it to the side," she said.

Martin oversees a staff of six teachers, all of whom have early childhood degrees. The three full-day classes and three half-day classes are at capacity with 108 children. Forty-one families are on the waiting list.

Illinois has public pre-K classes for everyone. Missouri ranks near the bottom of the states in the amount of child care subsidies provided to low-income families.

"A lot of people out there are working very hard with two jobs or the graveyard shift," Kohlfeld says. "I think the will is there. Sometimes the way becomes a problem."

Subheddy hereyy

Single-parent Misty Capshaw makes $7.55 an hour providing in-home care to people with mental disabilities. Her daughter, Olivia, has been in day care since she was 1 or 2 month's old. The day care was a nice one where children had breakfast, played and maybe watched a movie.

For awhile Capshaw was getting food stamps and day care assistance, copaying $3 daily. When she was cut off she paid $14 a day for the same day care. "I only took her three days a week because I couldn't afford five," Capshaw said.

When Capshaw decided she wanted Olivia, now 4, in more of a preschool environment she applied to Head Start. But she makes more than Head Start's eligibility threshold of $13,690 for a family of two. Fortunately, Olivia got into the new pre-K class at Jefferson School. Because the family qualifies for the free lunch program, Capshaw pays $2 a day.

"She loves it," Capshaw says. "She's already learned her numbers and letters." Olivia's class worked on the color red last week.

Olivia is happy and her mom is happy.

Paying for food, rent and car payments is difficult enough for a single-parent at her income level is difficult as it is, Capshaw said. "When people are trying and really trying to make something of themselves, they need help."

The 30-year-old Capshaw tests for her GED today and plans to enroll at Southeast next semester.

Subheddy hereyy

Martin thinks the schools could do more to educate students about the importance of early childhood education. "A lot of Head Start parents are anxious for their children to start kindergarten, and they don't think about what they could have done," she said.

Some of that information is available in the high school's child development classes and through the Parents as Partners program, says Deena Ring, director of special services for the Cape Girardeau schools.

She said she doesn't know if a lack of preparation for kindergarten translates into poor MAP scores and lower graduation rates. "But when we have a large percentage of students -- black, white or purple -- we're concerned about, that's troubling. I think the district is recognizing that."

At the legislative level, the United Way and other advocates are pushing the state to establish a quality rating system for child care. Providers would receive from one to five stars.

State Sen. Charlie Shields, R-St. Joseph, introduced a bill creating a QRS last session, but it didn't get far. Shields is set to reintroduce the legislation in the next session.

Much of the research on the importance of early childhood education is new. "I have a sense that people in early child care knew this was happening," Jernigan. said. "Now they have proofs."

If a correlation does exist between a lack of quality early childhood education, MAP scores and graduation rates in Cape Girardeau, Ambery says, "The question is, So what? Now what?"

sblackwell@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 137