Diplomas Count - Issue 34, 2012 - 15

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GETTING A LATER START
A lower percentage of Latino children ages 3 and 4 are enrolled in preschool compared with children of other racial and ethnic groups. While a majority of Asian-American and black children in this age group attend some type of education program outside the home, the same is true for fewer than 40 percent of Latino youngsters.

54%

52%

48%

39%

SOURCE: EPE Research Center, 2012. Analysis of data from the American Community Survey (2008-2010), U.S. Census Bureau.

ASIAN
Abbott districts, researchers at the National Institute for Early Education Research concluded in a 2009 report (the most recent) that children who participated in the program were less likely to be retained in the early grades. Looking at children who were in 2nd grade in 2008, the researchers found that grade repetition in kindergarten and 1st grade was 10.7 percent for children who had not attended prekindergarten, 7.2 percent for those who had attended for one year, and 5.3 percent for those who had attended for two years. The researchers also found positive effects of preschool on children’s oral-language skills, early literacy, and mathematics skills in the early grades. Barnett, who is one of the study’s authors, says the effects of preschool show up in later grades, too. “These programs in New Jersey that have near-universal participation rates beginning at age 3 see children, including Latinos, scoring near the state averages in 4th, 5th, and 6th grades,” he says. “And the state average in New Jersey is a very high bar.” Perth Amboy’s early-childhood program also provides education and outreach services to parents. Iris Martinez-Campbell heads that effort for the school system. “We educate these parents on the importance of things like routines for their children, such as putting them to bed at an early time and the same time every night,” Martinez-Campbell says. “From there, we educate them on the importance of talking to their children and reading to them. We loan them books if they don’t have any in the home. The goal is to build habits in these families that will extend into the school years.” At Robert N. Wilentz Elementary, a K-4 school that enrolls many of Perth Amboy’s preschool graduates, kindergarten teacher Diana Franco sees the effects of preschool for her pupils from the ﬁrst day of school. “I have to spend very little time getting them acclimated to being in a classroom,” she says. “They know how to listen to a teacher, how to work well with others, and can go with the flow of my classroom almost from the beginning. It’s great because we can start learning right away.” ■

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POWE POWE POWERING UP
SUCCESS
BOSTON September 27, 2012 DETROIT October 5, 2012

ED TECH 2013

FEATURED SPEAKERS
WILL RICHARDSON
Co-founder of Powerful Learning Practice

ROB MANCABELLI
Author and Educational Innovation Expert

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Diplomas Count - Issue 34, 2012

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