California

Strong readers will be strong because parents are strong readers. If children see parents read, they will also read. If TV has taken the place of reading in a home, then books will have a lesser value, and the stretch to investigate reading will be too far to go.

A preschool program with undirected play won't do a thing for reading readiness.

Preschool for All Will Help More Kids Become Strong Readers in Elementary School

California Chronicle Beverly Hills California
California Political Desk
The California Political Desk provides information, news releases, and announcements obtained from communication and public relations offices throughout the state.

May 10, 2006
Top Education Leaders Release New Report, Support Prop. 82 as Smart School Reform.

May 10, 2006 -- California’s leading educators today called on voters to support Proposition 82, the preschool for all initiative on the June 6 ballot, as a critical strategy to ensure that more California children enter kindergarten ready to read and succeed in school.

“Providing quality preschool programs to all children is one of the smartest investments we will ever make to help our children succeed in reading, and throughout K-12,” said California Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O’Connell. O’Connell and other top educators said their support for Prop. 82 is inspired in part by a growing body of research showing that reading difficulties in young children are preventable, and that quality preschool is a critical strategy in preventing them.

That research is highlighted in a new report, Building Blocks of Reading, released today by the non-profit, nonpartisan Preschool California (available at www.action.preschoolcalifornia.org/).

The report includes an introduction signed by the current and former state superintendents of public instruction, a bipartisan team of former state secretaries of education, and the heads of the California Teachers Association, California Federation of Teachers, California Kindergarten Association, and the association of California county superintendents of schools.

Many of those leaders gathered today at a preschool in Sacramento, where they read to 4-year-olds during circle time and formed a united front for Prop. 82.

“Any classroom teacher will tell you that attending a quality preschool gets children off to a strong start in school,” said Barbara E. Kerr, president of the California Teachers Association and a kindergarten teacher. “Kids need to master reading in order to do well in school, and preschool puts them on the reading path.”

According to the California Standards Test, an annual exam given to all students, 37% of California third-graders are failing basic reading (county- and school district-level reading scores available at www.action.preschoolcalifornia.org/reading/). Educators say that reading would improve if more children had access to preschool programs that lay a strong foundation for literacy.

“Every child deserves the chance to get ready to read,” said Armando William Argandoña, president of the California Kindergarten Association, a former preschool and kindergarten teacher and presently a literacy coach at Eastman Elementary School in East Los Angeles. “Too many children enter kindergarten lacking reading readiness skills and rich oral language. These are two important stepping stones needed on a child’s literacy journey. We need to expand students’ access to this critical lifetime skill starting in preschool.”

Building Blocks of Reading compiles extensive research showing that a quality preschool experience provides a springboard to strong reading skills in later years by fostering early literacy. Studies show that children who attend quality preschool programs are stronger, more advanced readers than their non-preschool counterparts.

Through developmentally appropriate learning–through-play activities with trained teachers, quality preschool helps all children, regardless of family background, to develop important social skills as well as build important pre-reading skills that predict their later reading ability, including earlier recognition of letters and words, an important factor in reading readiness; greater awareness of printed language and increased vocabulary.

Once they enter K-12, children who have been to quality preschool benefit from higher reading achievement test scores in elementary school; lower rates of being held back a grade or designated for special education; and higher rates of high school graduation and college attendance.

Tragically, too few California children have access to quality preschool programs. Just 20% of California 4-year-olds are enrolled in a quality preschool program the year before they start kindergarten. Private programs can cost more than tuition at a state college, and 75% of publicly funded programs have children waiting in line to get it.

“Quality preschool has been out of reach for too long,” said Preschool California President Catherine Atkin. “By voting for Prop. 82 on June 6, Californians can support smart school reform and make sure all families who want good preschool for their children will have access.”
Preschool California is a nonprofit, non-partisan organization working to achieve quality preschool opportunity for all 4-year-olds in California. www.preschoolcalifornia.org.