Thread: FL: PK-3 a better start for Hispanic children

PK-3 a better start for Hispanic children

By PHYLLIS KALIFEH
FLORIDA VOICES

Florida's Hispanic population is rapidly growing. According to U.S. Census predictions, Florida's Hispanic population is expected to jump from 14 percent of the 1995 state population to 24 percent of the 2025 state population.

Expanding and improving the quality of early education for the state's rapidly growing Hispanic population should be among our highest educational priorities. While Florida already has a successful voluntary universal prekindergarten program for 4-year-olds, we must continue to look for ways to improve and provide our children with even better opportunities. That is where the PK-3 approach comes in.

Research has shown that the PK-3 years are crucial to providing the foundation for lifelong learning. Aligning the curriculum and instruction for children from prekindergarten through the third grade contributes substantially to higher levels of school readiness and achievement.

PK-3 is especially important for Hispanic children who lag well behind their white counterparts on measures of school readiness when they start kindergarten and subsequently achieve at much lower levels in the primary grades. This pattern of lower academic achievement persists through high school and college.

In the short term, school districts that use the PK-3 approach will experience reduced special education and grade retention costs. In the long term, we will see decreased dropout rates, savings to the juvenile and adult justice systems, and increased earnings from participants.

Moreover, increased investments in PK-3 programs, which are proven to prepare our young children for school success, also strengthen the state's economy. Better education equals better jobs and a stronger local economy.

The good news is that the PK-3 approach is gaining strong support. A recent report by the National Task Force on Early Childhood Education for Hispanics echoed the need to provide these services to our growing Hispanic populations.

While PK-3 programs raise achievement among Hispanic children and provide better educational opportunities in the early childhood years, there is an inadequate capacity to meet demand in many Hispanic communities. Other problems exist, such as a lack of knowledge about program availability among Hispanic parents and the inability to afford prekindergarten.

Studies show that PK-3 programs can improve the literacy and math skills of all children, and especially English language learners and low-income children. PK-3 strengthens children's skills to help them succeed. The PK-3 approach creates the continuity in teaching and curriculum that makes it more successful for Hispanic children to learn English. We must also encourage Hispanic college students to choose PK-3 education as a career.

Florida's children have access to voluntary universal prekindergarten. We must now do our best to explain the benefits of the program and encourage Hispanic parents to enroll their children.

In the meantime, Florida should also build on its voluntary universal prekindergarten program and align it with a PK-3 curriculum. By investing our resources in programs like PK-3 that are fiscally responsible and prepare the work force of tomorrow, we can make a difference in bringing all children up to academic standards. If we don't, we could miss a critical window of opportunity to do what's best for the children of our rapidly growing Hispanic population.

Kalifeh is president of The Children's Forum, a nonprofit advocacy group.

http://www.news-journalonline.com/NewsJ ... 062907.htm

Expanding and improving the quality of early education for the state's rapidly growing Hispanic population should be among our highest educational priorities.

And what priority should the educational needs of non-Hispanics get?

Originally Posted by DcSA

Expanding and improving the quality of early education for the state's rapidly growing Hispanic population should be among our highest educational priorities.

And what priority should the educational needs of non-Hispanics get?

Do you think non-Hispanics count, particularly in Fl?

I lived in Miami, most of my life, and up to a year ago. When my children were in elementary school, they were both enrolled in an extra class...Spanish. My youngest was 8 or 9 yrs. old at the time, she's mid-30's now. The school system, which had been encouraging these classes as (I can see, now) a step toward bilingualism. They had many classes for non-English speakers, and this one class for non-Spanish speakers. Well, the school board cancelled my daughter's class...money, ya know!

So my daughter wrote a letter to the editor of the Miami Herald, which actually got printed! It was her idea to do so. In it, she said that with the
growing Hispanic community, when she grew up, people were going to need to speak both languages to get a job in Miami, and that the actions of the school board in closing down the one class for AMERICANS was discriminatory. Yeah, I have really smart kids! She also sent off letters to each member of the school board, every teacher in her school, and every member of the PTA! I paid for a lot of stamps!!!! I confess...I brought her up to think for herself, and to stand up for herself!!!

I sure do wish I could scan that letter, and post it as a pic for you....but it was burned up, along with similar treasures of my childrens' childhood, when the illegal Hispanic gang burned my house............