Early childhood education support expanding in state

The state’s plan to nurture early learning in young children has become a large, very active effort, according to Kathy Glazer, director of the governor’s newly created Office of Early Childhood Development.

Glazer, speaking Saturday at the “Potpourri for Providers of Early Childhood Professional Development” in Lynchburg, noted that pilot projects now under way show cooperation and intense commitment to provide quality early childhood education in public and private pre-schools.

Those early years are crucial because of rapid brain growth, researchers say, and because of it, children who attend high quality pre-school have a greater chance of success throughout their school years and beyond.

Smart Beginnings’ Start Strong is among early childhood initiatives launched by Gov. Timothy M. Kaine’s administration. Included is the Alignment Project, which seeks to assure that guidelines developed for early childhood education mesh with the skills and competencies of the adults providing pre-school education.

One of the first steps of the Alignment Project, Glazer said, was to develop a booklet, “Milestones of Child Development.” It discusses skills that should be encouraged in children in areas of relating to others, feeling good about oneself, and learning to be persistent and resilient.

“We thought we should also give a sense of what kinds of competencies and skills adults should have who are working in support of young children,” she said. So the book, “Competencies for Early Childhood Professionals,” was also developed.

Broken into four levels of mastery, she said, the book also recognizes that when adults are working with children “is really so much about the disposition of the person, the passion and the commitment that individuals have for the way they are interacting with young children.” That ability is “a gift and a particular distinction.”

In developing quality programs, Glazer said the governor wanted to assure that pre-school programs for at-risk children would not be delivered entirely in the public schools.

“We have many Head Starts and many child care providers who’ve been around for decades and have done a great job of providing these kinds of services for young children,” Glazer said.

The quality rating system uses a five-star scale, and starts with licensing, but includes such competencies as the way the curriculum is applied, the pre-school environment, and the interaction with the children.

While no state funding was available for the star rating initiative, she said, local communities wanted to make it work, and with the financial help of Capital One, the rating standards can be tested this year.

“We’ve been able to rate 108 classrooms serving 3- and 4-year-old children across the state in 16 different communities,” she said.

They include a military child care center, nonprofits, for-profits, Head Start and Virginia Preschool Initiative Classrooms, she said.

Because the system is being developed, programs won’t get a star designation. However, program designers have found most fell at the three-star level, some at two and some at four, and a few at one and at five.”

“We learned a great deal on how to do better next time,” Glazer said.

Also part of the work being done by the early childhood initiative, which draws in a number of state departments and agencies, was the creation of a definition of school readiness.

That definition, she said, was adopted by the board of education last week. “It will be the framework of what is meant by school readiness. Now our next tasks — how do we measure that?” And, if extra intervention is needed, “how do we facilitate that?”

The state is also trying to establish a coordinated system of training and education available to pre-school providers.

“We want to make sure all teachers have access to a continuum of training and education to improve on their skills.”

In 2007, the General Assembly approved $2.6 million to implement 10 pre-school pilot projects for unserved, but at-risk students, using public or private resources. The 2008 General Assembly approved $22 million for the Virginia Preschool Initiative.