Illinois

I'm not sure I'm for prescribed preschool or even a nation wide program or a universal program because in each state, or each area for that matter, people differ and children differ and needs differ and I don't think it can be legislated from DC. I think our public schools tell us what a huge failure "big" has been. The larger a preschool gets, the more like day care it becomes. Small private schools built for the child not the backers is the way to go.

Chicago Sun Times
Preschool education seen as key for kids
October 17, 2005
BY ROSALIND ROSSI AND MAUDLYNE IHEJIRIKA Education Reporters

Two years of preschool is now the norm that kids carry into the kindergartens of the top public schools in Illinois, a Chicago Sun-Times survey of parents indicates. More than three-quarters of kindergartners had double doses of preschool before starting classes this year at a sampling of the state's top 20 schools, the Sun-Times found.

At most Chicago public schools, kids are lucky to walk in the door with one year of preschool, one analysis indicates. That's certainly true at Morse School, one of the lowest-scoring public schools in the city.

Among kindergartners in the Morse classroom of teacher Sally Schwab, only 19 percent had been exposed to two years of preschool, parent surveys showed.

"These children need every minute of school," said Schwab, who teaches at Morse, one of the lowest-scoring public schools. "Obviously the playing field is not level. It's not level at all."

When the opening-day bell rang for kindergarten this year, most of teacher Sally Schwab's students weren't around to hear it. Almost two-thirds didn't show up for their first day of classes at Morse School, one of the lowest-scoring public schools in the city. Some had never spent a day in preschool. A few held their books upside down.

During the first two weeks of school last month, Sun-Times reporters observed two kindergartens -- one at Morse and the other at Beaubien, one of the city's 10 highest-scoring neighborhood schools. They surveyed parents about their kindergartners' previous school experience -- information the Chicago Public Schools system doesn't track.

Survey results published Sunday showed huge gaps in predictors of school success -- such as mothers' education levels and books in the home -- at Morse, a high-poverty school in West Humboldt Park, vs. Beaubien School, a far more affluent school in Jefferson Park.

The readiness gap

At Beaubien, nearly half of teacher Maureen Bryers' kindergartners walked in the door with two years of preschool, surveys indicated. Twice as many Morse kids had no preschool whatsoever.

Bryers' students fell easily into the swing of following directions, standing in line and listening to the teacher -- the kinds of readiness skills usually honed in preschool.

But in Schwab's classroom, some kids stood up in the middle of a lesson and strolled across the room. Forty percent, Schwab estimated, needed instructions repeated. Morse's 19 percent two-year preschool rate is not far from the 17 percent rate calculated for the Sun-Times by the University of Chicago's Consortium on Chicago School Research. However, the consortium's analysis didn't capture kids with private pre-school.

Under Mayor Daley's watch, Chicago schools have increased preschool slots by 60 percent in the last decade, to 29,000 seats. Even so, officials say, about 5,000 at-risk kids wanted preschool last year and couldn't get it.

Chicago Public Schools CEO Arne Duncan said the Sun-Times' findings are one more reason to support universal preschool for 3- and 4-year-olds.

"Every study shows the extraordinary benefits of preschool,'' Duncan said. "The more, the better. But while politicians give lip service to this, the bottom line is we are far behind other countries in making this a real priority.''

At Beaubien, Bryers said, it was easy, from day one, to tell which half of her class had two years of preschool. "I think the preschool experience is really important because they arrive here more independent and active in their learning,'' she said.

Nationally, poor kids start kindergarten already 18 months behind other kids, said W. Steven Barnett, director of the National Institute for Early Education Research at Rutgers University. They have to compete against kids whose more-affluent family backgrounds give them a power burst out of the kindergarten starting gate -- and beyond.

"The kids who are already ahead have more to build on,'' said Barnett. "It's like having money in the bank, and I'm earning interest. If I have more money in the bank, how are you ever going to catch up with me?"

For poor kids, high-quality preschool can change lives. One long-term study indicates poor 3-year-olds in Chicago's child-parent centers were more likely to complete high school and less likely to be held back a grade, placed in special education or arrested for a crime as a juvenile.

At more-affluent Wiesbrook School in Wheaton this year, 89 percent of kindergartners arrived with two years of preschool. That means, said Principal Dianne Thornburg, "oftentimes they are not hearing things for the first time. They are hearing them for the second and third time.''

Preschool rates at schools like Wiesbrook are "further evidence that if your community wants to have a top-scoring school, make sure that your kids get two years of preschool to be ready for kindergarten,'' said Barbara Radner, director of DePaul University's Center for Urban Education.

"CPS has to raise the average,'' Radner said. "Citywide, we have to move this number because if you move that number, you move all the others.''

Boy Embraces School -- But He's a Stranger In a Strange Land

BY Rosalin Rossi Education Reporter

During his first day of kindergarten at Morse School, Jermaine Porter was a stranger in a strange land. After a summer of playing outside, he suddenly was asked to sit at a desk -- a fine instrument for banging like a drum, he quickly discovered.

When his teacher asked questions, he acted as if she were talking just to him and blurted out answers without raising his hand.

Rather than walk single-file, he preferred to move up and down a line, enjoying the view from a variety of perspectives.

Like thousands of Chicago Public Schools students, 5-year-old Jermaine tackled his first day of kindergarten Sept. 6 without any preschool under his belt.

Readiness skills often honed in preschool -- raising a hand, following directions -- were new challenges.

Only 3 books at home

But he greeted them eagerly. On a sunny morning, Jermaine was one of the first children in his daylong class to arrive at Morse, a stately 101-year-old public school in impoverished West Humboldt Park. Its scores are among the lowest in the city on 2004 state reading and math tests.

The night before, Jermaine says, he was so excited, "I stayed up all night.'' Maybe that's why, during his first crack at nap time, he was out cold and had to be shaken awake.

Jermaine has a body built for action -- small but muscular, like a pint-size middleweight fighter's. But when teacher Sally Schwab read tales of a little girl named Goldilocks and a race between a tortoise and a hare, he was readily quiet.

He left a home with only three books -- all of them "church books,'' according to his mom -- where he was read to once a week, to enter a wonderland of books, all geared to kids, where he is read to at least twice a day.

Jermaine is among six Schwab students who've had no preschool or only a few months of it. Some arrived days late to school, missing the introduction of classroom rules.

Strong in math

All, at various times, have required special attention. Half could not hold a book properly. Three cried during bouts of separation anxiety. A few earned time-outs.

Like most of his colleagues with limited school experience, Jermaine is still learning to print his first name. He needs work identifying primary colors and basic shapes. Coloring inside the lines? Not yet.

But even without preschool, Jermaine is one of the strongest math students in the class, the only child to reel off numbers past 100.

At home, Jermaine is buoyed by a supportive family. His mom, Chanita Wilson, took him to school the first day and joined him in class for a while the second. His aunt, a school breakfast room helper, checks with his teacher every morning.

But in school, he's experiencing culture shock. Initially, he blurted out answers. Then he progressed to waving his hand -- but didn't have an answer when called on; he just got a kick out of being recognized.

Eventually, he was contributing. Within days, he was producing tipsy but somewhat recognizable letters, merrily declaring afterward, "I'm done! I'm done!''

Though school is a foreign land, Jermaine is a happy resident, smiling often to reveal two missing front teeth. He gave his first week a solid thumbs-up.

"I like being in class,'' Jermaine said. "I like going everywhere [in school] -- even to the bathroom.''

Wilson herself only made it to 12th grade. But this single mom wants better for Jermaine, for her four other children, and even for herself. She plans to start a licensed practical nurse program next year. And she wants her kids to go to college.

"Education is the key to life,'' Wilson says. "There's a lot of things you can find out in school.''

Classroom Setting Old Hat to Many Kids at Beaubien -- and it shows

BY Maudlyne Ihejirika Staff Reporter

On the first day of school, 5-year-old Anthony Consentino walked into kindergarten already a veteran. He had logged two years of preschool and already had kindergarten friends.

One of 25 students in Maureen Bryers' afternoon kindergarten class at 100-year-old Beaubien Elementary in middle-class Jefferson Park, Anthony was the first kid to arrive.

Despite having attended two years of tuition-based preschool at Beaubien, Anthony held tight to Mom's leg, until he saw best buddy Alessandro Corazzino, 5, another two-year veteran.

Anthony tore toward his friend, and they roughhoused until the bell rang and Bryers threw open the schoolhouse doors.

Last year, Beaubien's scores were among the highest among city neighborhood schools on reading and math tests.

Like little soldiers, Anthony and 23 pint-size playmates, freshly starched in first-day clothes and weighted down by cartoon-themed backpacks, marched into the building and up the stairs to Bryers' bright, color-splashed Room 942.

Anthony was no novice to this school thing.

'They understand directions'

After Principal Chris Kotis came in to meet the kids, Anthony announced to his classmates: "If one of us gets in trouble, we have to go to the principal's office."

From the first day, it was clear that school was old hat for Anthony and his classmates. When Bryers told them to go hang up their backpacks and come sit on the carpet under the chalkboard, they did. When she told them to stand on the big green circle painted on the floor in the middle of the room, they did.

Bryers' students sat cross-legged and listened intently when told, independently chose games off a shelf at activity time -- and put them back in their boxes when told to -- and in an orderly fashion found seats at empty tables when it was time to do schoolwork.

"The majority of these children have gone to preschool here, many of them for two years. They understand directions,'' Bryers said. "You can tell who has not had as much experience. They're more hesitant."

Anthony could write his first name. He could state his full name. He could count to 100. He could use a scissors and a pencil. He knew all of his colors, his phone number and his birthday. But not his address.

Anthony's stick figures were less than fully developed blobs. This did not thrill his best friend when the kids were asked to draw a classmate and get their autograph. "That's not me!" an outraged Alessandro said. "That's us playing soccer," insisted Anthony.

Ready for lifetime of learning

Anthony lives with his mom and dad and 2-year-old brother. He loves to talk and is a sponge dripping with random information. Mom Nikki Consentino, 31, explained the family has "hundreds" of books in the house, and "most of them" belong to Anthony. Also, she said, Anthony is glued to the computer several times a week.

Every morning until the second week of school, Anthony got in line. Then one day in week two, he had second thoughts about this kindergarten thing.

He clung to Mom's leg. "You have to come. I need you as my messenger today," Bryers cajoled. It worked. "Thank you," his relieved mother said.

Nikki Consentino, a high school graduate who had her first child at 26, picks her son up at 1:45 p.m. daily. She is sure the two years of preschool have prepared her son for a lifetime of learning.

What does she want him to be when he grows up? "Happy and successful."