Thursday, July 10, 2003

Kindergarten-Plus Closing Preschool Achievement Gap

By Sandra Feldman, president
American Federation of Teachers
    Too often, the only thing holding back poor children from greater academic success is that they start school significantly behind other children academically and socially. National studies by the Department of Education show that the achievement gap between poor children as a group and their more affluent peers is established before they even begin school.
    Although most poor children make huge strides during kindergarten, other children are progressing, too. And, unlike their more advantaged peers, poor children fall back academically during the summer. These children usually don't have access to the educationally enriching vacation experiences that middle-class children take for granted — museum visits, organized sports, camping and other physically, culturally and mentally enhancing activities.
    To address this frustrating but solvable problem, the American Federation of Teachers last year introduced a concept called Kindergarten-Plus, which adds two months of class time before and after the regular kindergarten school year.
    The program is designed to give additional time in school to poor children, who often start school with fewer cognitive, pre-literacy and pre-numeracy skills than their more affluent peers who have greater access and exposure to academic and extracurricular activities.
    Now, just one year later, schools in the Albuquerque, Gadsden, Gallup-McKinley and Las Cruces districts are starting the first Kindergarten-Plus classrooms in the entire country.
    This is the result of hard work by local leaders like Rep. Mimi Stewart, D-Albuquerque, who introduced the Kindergarten-Plus bill. Ellen Bernstein, president of the Albuquerque Teachers Federation, and Christine Trujillo, president of the New Mexico Federation of Educational Employees, lobbied for the bill. And hundreds of people called, e-mailed and wrote lawmakers urging its passage.
    As a result of their efforts and Gov. Bill Richardson's leadership, Kindergarten-Plus legislation was signed into law and funded as a three-year pilot program. This month, Kindergarten-Plus classrooms in New Mexico opened their doors.
    It's critical that other states note what New Mexico is doing. Several, including Illinois and Rhode Island, already have introduced Kindergarten-Plus legislation. Gov. Ronnie Musgrove of Mississippi also has proposed an extended kindergarten year in his state. And the AFT is working in Washington, D.C., with key members of Congress to develop legislation that would provide a federal funding source for Kindergarten-Plus.
    In many places across the country, the infrastructure for Kindergarten-Plus is already in place. The schools exist; many or most already have kindergarten; and there is a pool of qualified public-school kindergarten teachers.
    Kindergarten-Plus is a strong and affordable investment. Four extra months of kindergarten would cost about $2,000 a child. In the United States, there are approximately 580,000 poor children who would qualify, for a total of $1.16 billion. That's a small price to pay for dramatically reducing the achievement gap. Consider that in one year alone, WorldCom got $1.1 billion in corporate tax breaks.
    In contrast, Kindergarten-Plus would reduce the need for remediation and special education, lower dropout rates, and increase the supply of productive citizens — ultimately saving our nation billions of dollars.
    Poor children are just as smart as middle-class kids, but because poor kids start school behind their peers, they need more time and opportunity for learning.
    The best and most comprehensive solution to this problem is obvious — universal access to high-quality preschool, with priority given to poor children. The AFT will continue to push hard for this. But in the meantime, Kindergarten-Plus is an important "down payment" on quality preschool. And it is one that will reap uncounted and immediate dividends in the academic success of our children.