In 1998 the New Jersey Supreme Court mandated that 31 school
districts provide universal pre-k services because of a lawsuit
involving inequitable funding. The case, Abbott vs. Burke
resulted in numerous changes in the districts involved in the lawsuit
including the courts mandating of universal pre-k access in the
districts involved. These districts have become known as Abbott
Preschool Districts and their pre-k programs have been the topic of much
eyeballing by policy makers and advocates interested in finding out if
it would result in high outcomes for children.
Recently,
Jennifer Dubin wrote a detailed story on A Preschool with Promise, a day in the life of
an Abbott district preschool classroom. The center featured in the
article, published by the American Federation of Teachers, is the Ignacio Cruz Early Childhood
Center. Dubin describes a day of high quality services from the
standpoint of children's experiences. She describes a rich and engaging
day of learning that included reading and math instruction, pretend
play, and social-emotional development. One of the key areas explored in
the article is the differences between 3 year old and 4 year old
curriculum. The primary difference is that 3 year old students focus
more on social emotional development and gaining an awareness of the
functions and processes of going to formal school. The 4 year old
curriculum focuses on preparing students socially and academically for
kindergarten.
Understanding the differences that should be
addressed in a 3 year old vs. 4 year old classroom is a topic we have
struggled with in my own school division. We have approached the issue
by organizing a 3 year old curriculum team to consider what is
appropriate to expect of childrens development before they leave their 3
year old year in Head Start based on Virginia's Milestones of Child Development.
It is a hard process that has helped me understand the difficulty of
vertical alignment of learning.
Lateral as well as longitudinal
collaboration within the Perth Amboy school district has created a high
quality environment for learning. Lateral is collaboration between the
public schools and private providers who help achieve the vision of the
district's superintendent John Rodecker, "The goal is to serve every
eligible student, we thought we were close to that," The numbers keep
growing." In January there was still a waiting list of 100 students.
There is also vertical or longitudinal collaboration between the
preschool teachers and kindergarten teachers. "Perth Amboy's
kindergarten and preschool teachers began meeting together regularly to
review state standards that outline what students should learn in each
grade. Through these meetings, teachers align the knowledge and skills
that children should acquire in preschool to the expectations for the
transition to kindergarten."
All eyes are on the universal
efforts in the Abbott school districts to keep the promise of a high
quality pre-k experience. The results, at least from the perspective of
children, seems to be right on track.
IMage: http://www.ourchildrenourschools.org/newsletters/nlf_intro.jpg
