||| FROM JAMES CONNELL for ECEI STEERING COMMITTEE |||
For many years families and educators in Washington State have been asking for free preschool for all. A new state-legislated program, Transition to Kindergarten (TTK), sounds like it could be a step in the right direction. For some communities it may be that, especially where there is no or limited access to affordable preschool. But is it right for Orcas?
What is the TTK Program?
TTK is a state program designed for families with no access to preschool because of their location or economic circumstance, specifically for 4-year-olds who need additional preparation and may struggle in kindergarten without preschool experience. OISD is considering applying for this program, which is designed to prioritize children with special needs and financial hardship. The School Board is set to vote on participating in this program on February 26.
What are our concerns?
The Early Childhood Education Initiative (ECEI) is an Orcas Island public/private partnership led by early childhood educators, community advocates and investors, county early childhood education staff, and educational and child development experts. Our recent article in theOrcasonian describes our ten years of work and its impact on the ECE landscape on Orcas Island. We have two questions about TTK that we’d like the OISD to consider as it moves toward its decision.
1. Is there a need?
Data from Washington State Department of Children Youth and Families show the Eastsound zip code at the very top of their scale for early childhood education access for 3- to 5-year-oldchildren, with at least 80% in our three state-certified preschool programs.
Since 2017 all families on Orcas Island, including those with severe or moderate financial need or children with developmental and educational challenges, can choose to send their children to these three programs and be confident they will be well-prepared to enter Kindergarten. None of these high quality, financially accessible programs have preschool waitlists.
2. Could this program do harm?
Without collaborative efforts and creative solutioning, TTK would likely result in a single classroom comprised wholly of children who face economic, developmental, and/or educational challenges. This approach, referred to as “homogeneous grouping” or “self-contained classroom,” runs counter to strong scientific evidence that all children benefit from diversity in their classrooms, where they have better educational, developmental, and social outcomes. Diverse classrooms and associated positive outcomes currently exist in Orcas’ three independent preschool programs.
Also, materials on TTK clearly indicate that the program is not intended to draw students away from programs they are already enrolled in. TTK, if implemented in this way on Orcas, will clearly do that.
Summary
Orcas Island is home to a robust early childhood education landscape as described in our earlier article. Given the concerns above, we ask the School Board to consider delaying this decision to allow time for ECEI to partner with OISD and develop collaborative and innovative solutions that will best benefit those children in highest need while strengthening the entire ECE landscape.
In my experience, most children younger than six or seven are better served by being with their family members and spending their time in self-directed outdoor play. This is precisely how all children for the entirety of history prior to the 20th century learned to be in the world. The constant pressure to push abstract “learning” onto younger and younger children is a symptom of a culture-wide transparent belief in spending the present continually “preparing” for some future event, situation or status. Let children be children! GENUINE learning is a lifelong activity, or it ought to be anyway. Children need to learn about reality by experiencing it, not being “prepared” for kindergarten and abstract concepts.
I urge the OISD and the ECEI to look at these young citizens holistically and to consider their emotional, physical, social and spiritual education as well as their intellectual needs.