Research indicates that 23 percent of all Washington children - more than 109,000 statewide - are born with multiple risk factors, including poverty, that put many of them in danger of falling behind other children in their social, emotional, physical and cognitive development. According to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, "the result is an enormous loss of human potential and a high cost to taxpayers." The following is the first in a multi-part series examining and reporting on the early learning climate of Southeast Seattle - a community with one of the highest poverty levels in King County.<
MOUNT BAKER - Another Southeast Seattle preschool is gearing up to participate in a very successful early literacy program funded by the United States Department of Education (USDE).
Beginning in January 2008, We Are the World Childcare in Mount Baker - established in 1989 - will take part in Seattle Early Reading First (SERF), a project designed to prepare young, low income children for future academic success by transforming early childhood programs into language and literacy rich centers of excellence for preschoolers.
"We want to make sure children enter elementary school ready to learn how to read," said U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings. "Early Reading First uses research-based strategies to introduce young children to books and concepts like letters, sounds and vocabulary. These first years of life are critical for a child's development, and Early Reading First helps ensure children start life on the right track."
The City of Seattle received the first $3 million grant from USDE in 2002. At that time, five Seattle child care centers that serve large numbers of low-income families - including four in the southeast community - were selected to participate in the free four-year project that few expected would achieve success.
Three years later, one City of Seattle official who managed the program told the Seattle P-I that "No one thought we'd get these kinds of results. We thought we'd be referring kids to special ed... Instead, we're catching kids who are successful and hopefully will be on a gifted track."
The Jose Marti Child Care Center at El Centro de la Raza on Beacon Hill was one of the first Southeast Seattle centers to participate in the groundbreaking program. Centers received additional teaching staff and their own literacy specialist, teachers and program supervisors received paid training and college credit, classrooms received new books and other literacy materials, parents received support and assistance in accessing community resources, and the students thrived.
"One of the best aspects of SERF is the family involvement piece," said Tamara Guyton, South End resident and parent of a kindergartner who attended Jose Marti as a preschooler from to 2004 to 2006. "The parent meetings were great and gave very practical advice about how to integrate reading into a working families life. Childcare and dinner were provided for the meetings as well as free books to excite both kids and parents."
Guyton is confident that her daughter Jemma's reading skills benefited from the program.
Lynne Ameling was a Seattle Public Schools (SPS) Literacy Specialist during the course of the first grant and she agrees.
"We are really proud to have been chosen again," Ameling said. "It shows that we actually did our job the first time."
Indeed, the second grant received nearly 700 applications from across the country, the USDE funded only 27 and the amount Seattle received was bumped from $3 million to $4 million.
"There is a heavy evaluation component," added Ameling. This time, in addition to Public Health-Seattle and King County, the Experimental Education Unit at the University of Washington will judge SERF's efficacy.
Annette Brown, founder and director of We Are the World, is happy to have been chosen to participate and her staff is eager to get started.
"This is a great opportunity," she said. "The literacy training materials, the college credit for the teachers, the materials for their classrooms and the opportunity for parents to understand what's going on here."
We Are the World serves 49 children that range in age from six weeks to 5-years old and come from a diverse mix of ethnic and economic backgrounds. The center is accredited by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) and nationally-recognized as a high-quality early childhood education program.
A GLIMPSE OF THE SEATTLE EARLY READING FIRST PROGRAM:
The goal:To fundamentally change the way kids prepare for kindergarten and to help teachers nourish the joyful reader and natural learner in every child, with a special focus on those who are low-income and potentially at-risk. SERF provides partnering agencies with extensive resources in exchange for the time and willingness to make profound changes in the way they do their jobs.
Community Partners: Seattle Public Schools, the Seattle Public Library, Child Care Resources, Public Health-Seattle and King County and the University of Washington. Southeast Child Care Partner: We Are the World Child Care Center; Annette Brown, Director; (206) 324-6113.
