Chairs and
tables seem impossibly close to the floor. Shelves are filled with books, toys
and lots of bright colors.
Groups of
children play at different stations. An aide helps a couple of girls use
handprints to decorate valentines, while DeLeon helps several students don
aprons for a water-based activity. It’s a scene that’s repeated daily not only
at Panda Path but at SBISD’s other preK centers.
But DeLeon’s
classroom is not like the others in one fundamental way – her 18 students this
afternoon are half of SBISD’s first class of 3-year-olds, part of an SBISD pilot
project that puts the younger students in a structured setting to help launch
them on their academic careers and future successes.
The
first-year teacher couldn’t be happier.
“This is
what I love,” she said, looking around her classroom. “I’ve found my dream
job.”
The “Pre-3”
program launched on Jan. 4 – the first day back from winter break – after being
conceived, planned and executed over the fall semester.
Responding
to weak enrollment in the 4-year-old program – the traditional starting point
for preK – Panda Path Director Sara Hannes and others first went to work trying
to round up 4-year-olds for the program, among other methods going door-to-door
to physically look for the children.
Panda Path
serves primarily the apartment “super block” along Pitner Road between
Hollister and Hempstead Highway, where some 6,000 people live in 1,700 or so
apartment units. Occupancy rates were strong – 90 percent or better – with no
crime waves or other outside disruptions.
But the
students weren’t there, puzzling administrators. Executive Director Ricardo
Barnes and Laura Abrams of the Spring Branch Family Development Center, which
houses Panda Path, found some research suggesting a dip in the birth rate
starting in 2011 – a national trend, Barnes said, but one that appears to be
stronger among immigrant women and one that he expects will continue.
“There are
macro reasons,” Abrams said, “why enrollment is down.”
In SBISD
anyway, that’s opened the door for 3-year-olds.
“We’d never
had room for both 3- and 4-year-olds,” said Hannes. “Now we do. We turned a
negative into a positive.”
The
differences in a 3-year-old and a 4-year-old program are subtle but very real,
Hannes said. The younger students generally don’t come from a day-care
environment and considerable time is spent on “soft skills,” such as sharing
with strangers, learning how to ask for things, and routines and procedures
they’ll encounter in a classroom.
Using
language appropriately is also a focus in the 3-year-old program, Hannes said.
Children come from an environment where language is largely “directive” – come
here, sit down, listen – and have to learn to hear and use language
instructively.
Administrators
have something of an advantage finding students through Family U, a program run
by the Spring Branch Family Development Center for parents of children ages
0-3, where they learn to more effectively parent. Many of the 3-year-olds
attend Family U in the mornings with parents then the afternoon class at Panda
Path.
With 35
students now enrolled in the 3-year-old program – 17 in the morning; 18 in the
afternoon – and a waiting list of 34, chances are good that a new class will be
formed, and soon. And with some 70 students enrolled in the 3-year-old program
and around 100 in the 4-year-old program, Panda Path will have 170 students,
pushing its all-time peak enrollment of 174 students.
The “Pre-3s”
may be piloting at Panda Path but the program might expand to SBISD’s other
preK centers this fall, said Sheree Cantrell, SBISD’s Director of Early
Childhood.
“Demographic projections show
that (the trend) will continue,” said Cantrell.
Barnes said
that SBISD has very innovative in its approach to preK.
“The
district was visionary and innovative to capture these students,” he said, “and
to do it mid-year, and then expand mid-year. It really speaks well to Spring
Branch (ISD).”
SBISD has
long operated full-day preK for its 4-year-olds while being reimbursed by the
state only for half-day. Cantrell said that the state says districts “must”
provide programs for 4-year-olds but “may” provide for 3-year-olds.
The state
reimburses for the 3-year-old program, Cantrell said, because it’s a half-day
program.
Research
consistently shows that early exposure to language increases a child’s ability
to read on grade level, which leads to greater academic and post-secondary
success. SBISD’s T-2-4 goal is that students complete a technical certificate,
military training or a two- or four-year degree.
Cantrell and
Hannes wrote the curriculum for the 3-year-old program and helped coordinate
support from a number of SBISD departments to make the program ready when
students returned to school on Jan. 4, after winter break.
“We met with
everybody,” said Cantrell. “This is something that (the district) has always
wanted to do … now we can get these kids in here and start closing gaps.”
She said
getting 3-year-olds into a structured program will speed up identification of
students who need interventions and services such as speech or hearing. “It
gives the threes an early start,” Cantrell said.
Hannes
especially praised the Panda Path staff for going above and beyond during the
planning and opening of the 3-year-old program – from teacher aides
volunteering to come in early to receive students to the extra enrollment push
to adjusting lunch times slightly to get the required minutes in a school day.
“It’s
getting the right people on the bus,” she said. “(Staff was) willing to come in
early or stay late … to do what needs to be done.”
Barnes puts
it another way.
“Talk about
customized supports,” he said, referring to one of the four pillars of SBISD’s
strategic plan, The Learner’s Journey. “The school community knew what could be
done to make this seamless … everyone here sees what happens when you get
behind something and work towards a goal.”
Customized
Supports is defined in The Learner’s Journey as “the people, places, partners,
programs and processes that provide students, families and staff with
personalized resources.”
A vital
piece of Spring Branch Family Development Center’s services continuum, Panda
Path – and Family U – help build community for the families on Pitner Road.
“The
perception is that everyone in the (Pitner) apartments are all friends – but
they’re not, and they find each other here,” said Barnes. “Give people some
space and purpose, and (community) starts building.”
By Rusty
Graham
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