EARLY LEARNING PROGRAM IS WORTHY OF EXPANSION

U.S. Sen. Christopher Bond has introduced a bill that would make federal money available to school districts across the nation to assist parents in readying their preschool children for an education. When viewed within the larger scheme of education, the measure is worthy of adoption.

The Missouri senator proposes that funding for programs patterned after his home state's Parents as Teachers program be made available to school districts that want it. PAT, as the program is called, was implemented in Missouri in 1984 when Bond was governor. State education officials say now that the program has withstood the test of time, and that it has successfully helped preschoolers overcome early-childhood developmental problems.

Missouri Commissioner of Education Robert Bartman described PAT as a means of helping "all kinds of families do a better job of promoting their children's growth and development." Bartman's accolades followed release of a recent state education department study of the program's impact on 400 families in 37 Missouri school districts. Two key findings of the study were that 3-year-olds scored significantly above national norms on measures of school-related achievement and more than half of the youngsters with developmental delays overcame them by age 2.

With the realization that parents are the child's first and foremost teachers, the program encourages families to begin development and parenting programs with their preschool children. It encourages parents to seek medical help and specialized services for children who need them, so that developmental problems may be corrected during the critical preschool years.

Missouri educators found the fact that 3-year-olds did so well on measures of achievement encouraging because the sample group included above-average numbers of families whose children traditionally have educational problems. The high-risk children were described as those from families in poverty, with single parents, and mothers without a high school education. Those families, say educators, particularly benefit from the program.

Bond wants $100 million to be made available under a competitive grant program for five years so that states may begin or expand PAT programs. At a cost of $20,000 each, 1,000 school districts initially could participate annually. He said the program would ensure that all children are healthy and ready to learn when they begin school.

Educators see the PAT program as one way of preventing developmental problems that can adversely affect a child's ability to learn. For that reason alone, an outlay of $100 million over five years seems a small price to ensure that children learn more easily, because a problem was caught and corrected early in life.