COLUMBUS — Friday marked the end of the school year for city students, but for preschoolers at Stokes-Beard Elementary Technology and Communication Magnet School, it was business as usual.
The Columbus Municipal School District has offered pre-kindergarten since the late 1990s, beginning with classes at Union Academy and implementing the program at Stokes-Beard in 2005.
This year, 120 students attended six classes divided between Stokes-Beard, Sale Elementary International Studies Magnet School and Cook Elementary Fine Arts Magnet School. This fall, two more classes will be added — one at Fairview Elementary Aerospace and Science Magnet School and one at Franklin Academy Medical Sciences and Wellness Magnet School.
As the Lowndes County School District sifts through the details involved in beginning its first pre-K program, city school officials say it’s worth the time and money to give children, especially the economically disadvantaged, a jumpstart on kindergarten and first grade.
Mississippi is one of 11 states without a state-funded pre-K program, though legislators have been trying to change that for more than two decades.
Only 53 of the state’s 152 school districts offer preschool, serving 11 percent of the state’s four-year-olds. Those districts, like Columbus, rely on a mixture of federal and district funds to provide services they say are critical precursors to future academic success.
It’s especially important for students from low-income families, reports the National Institute for Early Education Research in New Brunswick, N.J. Without preschool, those students enter kindergarten 18 months behind their peers, and many never catch up.
Making connections
Charles Bush, Madison Petty and Cainan Lewis hunched over iPads at Stokes-Beard Friday morning, tapping and swiping their way through a vocabulary lesson with pre-kindergarten teacher Marie Burgess.
On the opposite side of the room, Assistant Teacher Janice Covert led students through a chorus of counting by fives, while JaHari Reed knelt on the floor and spread numbers across the carpet, quietly practicing counting by twos.
Laila Banks chewed her pencil and stared out the window, concentration etching her face into a frown as she pondered the next letter of her sentence.
Early childhood education is critical to brain development, Burgess said. Statistics from the National Research Council and Institute of Medicine say children acquire 85 percent of their intellect, personality and skills by age five.
Burgess hears it every day from her colleagues: The preschool graduates have higher vocabularies, better math skills and higher social skills than their peers.
“When you get them at four-years-old, those neurons are making connections,” she said. “What we used to do in first grade, they’re doing in pre-K now. The word has spread. People are blown away by the success.”
More than crayons
Burgess is quick to dispel myths preschool is a babysitter program where students spend the day coloring and playing.
Every activity is geared toward meeting the district’s pre-K standards and preparing students for the Common Core Standards they will encounter later.
Classes are limited to 20 students who attend an eight-hour day. During that time, they break into groups of four to rotate between five study areas — reading, language, math, technology and dramatic play, which teaches social skills like sharing.
In August, many know only their alphabet. By the end of the year, they can write short sentences, read simple books, recite the days of the week and months of the year, tell time and perform basic math.
Burgess called Madison Petty, 5, to her side and asked her to describe her shoes.
“Silver and shiny,” Petty said.
“And what part of speech is that?” Burgess asked.
Though she could barely pronounce the word, Petty proudly gave the answer: “Adjective!”
Burgess tries to push her students a little harder every year. Though she has taught for 13 years, the past five years she has been a pre-K teacher, and she enjoys the work so much, she plans to stay at that level.
“They can write sentences and read books,” she said. “They’re amazing. I have the best job.”
Assistant Teacher Janice Covert was equally enthused. She’s taught in pre-K classrooms for five years and said she loves it.
“To me, it’s exciting to see them come in,” she said. “When they leave, you know they’re ready to go and they have the foundation they need.”
No vacancies
But despite its benefits, not every child gets to attend pre-K, which was a concern for some county school board members and is also a concern for Anthony Brown, assistant superintendent for federal and special programs in the city school district.
CMSD will provide for some of its neediest preschoolers by partnering with the HeadStart program and using federal Title 1 funds for six of the eight classes offered next school year. Only two will be district-funded.
This means 120 of the slots are reserved for those students who have a low socioeconomic status or meet other criteria. The remaining 40 slots are filled via lottery.
Every year, there is a waiting list, Brown said. For the upcoming school year, eight students remain on the list, but there are no vacancies.
Enrollment would double if the district offered transportation, as the county plans to do, Brown said. But transportation drives up the costs due to requirements for bus restraints and additional bus aides. Those elements are expected to cost the county a minimum of $13,584.
The biggest expense is personnel. According to Brown, a pre-K teacher costs the district an average of $50,000 with benefits. To have 20 students per class, districts must provide an assistant teacher, which costs an average of $17,500.
Costs vs. benefits
As the city school district works this week to hash out its budget for next year, they’ve taken a hard look at the pre-K program. It’s particularly important in a district like CMSD, where 80 percent of the students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, and many come to school “not ready to learn,” Brown said.
But after several years of tracking the district’s preschool graduates, he feels confident the program is working.
District research shows third-graders facing the statewide MCT2 test for the first time scored higher if they were exposed to pre-K. CMSD’s first class of pre-K graduates outperformed their peers, with 90 percent scoring proficient or advanced on state tests.
“In our view, pre-K is not optional; it’s essential,” Brown said. “I can’t wait to see our whole state realize we’ve got to provide services earlier if we want to reach these kids.”
Carmen K. Sisson is the former news editor at The Dispatch.
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