Summer 2012 - "Education Perspectives" - Concordia University

In short, in order to truly reform public education we
need to reach children long before they start kindergarten.
But how do we create a system that does that?
Currently, preschool classrooms and childcare facilities
exist in silos, disconnected from the larger education
system. As a result, childcare providers, caregivers,
parents, and teachers are subject to a mishmash of
regulations and funding streams, often without training
or competitive pay. Here in Oregon, for example, only 29
percent of Head Start preschool teachers hold a bachelor’s
degree, and nationally that number is 38 percent. On
the whole, they are paid almost 40 percent less than
kindergarten teachers.
We need to build a system that allows for consistency and
continuity across the education spectrum. With that goal
in mind, we at the Children’s Institute have recently started
work on a demonstration project. Entitled “Early Works,”
the initiative is set in a high-need school in Southeast
Portland and seeks to align and integrate a comprehensive
early childhood education with the larger K-5 system.
Feature Story
Next year, as one part of this project, we’re hoping to
see a preschool classroom open its door right alongside
a kindergarten and first grade class. The room will be
led by a teacher with specialized early education training
and drawn from the same staffing pool that supplies the
school’s other teachers. It will be funded with a variety of
blended and braided funding streams, and planned with
an eye towards sustainability. It is our hope to learn from
the trials and challenges we endure, and to make that
information available to policymakers and educators.
The path to success in this project is not always clear,
but the moment feels right to execute. Policymakers and
business leaders across the country are more eager than
ever before to see real reform in early education. It is our
hope that the lessons learned from our project and others
like it will give us the knowledge that we need to create
real, permanent improvement in early education – and for
early educators.
– Swati Adarkar is president & CEO of the Children’s
Institute, dedicated to improving the odds for Oregon’s
at-risk children by promoting investments in early childhood
education. www.childinst.org
Summer 2012
11