CONTACT: Terry Anderson

Director, Early Childhood Programs

WNMU

538-6344

andersont@wnmu.edu

PRESS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Parents Confused About Proposed Pre-Kindergarten

The Governor’s push for a Universal Pre-K Initiative for New Mexico’s four-year-olds recently received a great deal of media coverage, but the outcome has left many parents confused and frustrated. “Parents are calling our programs, asking if they should enroll their children in the public schools for pre-kindergarten for the upcoming school year,” said Terry Anderson, Director of Early Childhood Programs at WNMU. In fact, it may be several years before the proposed half-day pre-kindergarten program in public schools is available to children in Grant County.

In a bill passed in the closing hours of the recent legislative session, the Governor’s $9 million proposal for universal pre-kindergarten was reduced to $5 million to launch pilot programs in a few high need areas of the state. To qualify for funding under the program, applicants must represent districts with the highest percentages of low income children who also attend elementary schools that do not meet state proficiency standards. Grant County fails to qualify on both of those criteria. Many areas of the state have higher percentages of low income children, and all of the elementary schools in the Cobre and Silver School Districts meet Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) standards. These two facts make Grant County ineligible for the pilot project application.

While state-funded pre-kindergarten programs may not be available soon in Grant County, there are three fully accredited programs that serve four-year-olds in the community: WNMU’s pre-school programs, El Grito Head Start, and Guadalupe Montessori School. Accreditation means that programs have met certain generally accepted standards for practice. “What the public needs to know is that there is a big difference between ‘day care’ and early childhood education,” says Anderson. Early education addresses all of the developmental needs of children—physical, cognitive, and social/emotional—preparing them with the necessary skills to learn when they enter public schools.

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Since 1992, WNMU’s pre-school programs have been nationally accredited through the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC). The Child Development Center and Community Childcare Center presently serve approximately 40 four-year-olds, as well as more than 100 children of other ages.

El Grito Head Start, accredited through the national Head Start Program, serves the early education needs of more than 100 four-year-olds in Grant County. This federally funded program must meet high performance standards in order to continue services.

Guadalupe Montessori School also serves approximately 20 four-year-olds and is accredited through the Association Montessori Internationale, an international accreditation body for Montessori schools worldwide. “When universal pre-kindergarten does come to Grant County, these quality programs are prepared to partner with the publics schools in providing service,” says Anderson.

Enrollment figures for the three accredited schools indicate that approximately one-half of the county’s four-year-olds are in accredited programs. Other four-year-olds receive care in privately operated centers and home care settings. While none of these programs is accredited, some of them have achieved high rankings in the state’s STARS licensing program, a five-level ranking system that rates childcare providers on a variety of criteria.

Longitudinal research has demonstrated that high quality early childhood programs can put children on a better trajectory through life, reducing their need for costly later interventions. However, poor early education experiences and inappropriate curriculum for young children may do more harm than good by failing to meet their developmental needs and leaving them academically unprepared.

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