Guest Viewpoint: PK3: a strategy for meeting the needs of Hispanic kids

My grandchildren, and those of my brother and sister -- 35 children in all -- must not be lost in their early years because of an inadequate response to their educational circumstances.

Yet, extrapolating from recent national research, 27 of these precious children are likely to enter kindergarten six months behind their white counterparts.

We can do better.

I recently chaired a task force devoted to finding ways to expand and improve early childhood education for Hispanics. Para Nuestros Ninos, the National Task Force on Early Childhood Education for Hispanics, released a series of reports discussing how to improve academic achievement among Hispanic children from birth through age 8.

Third-grade outcomes are critical. Research shows that children who fall behind in third grade are unlikely to ever catch up.

The National Assessment of Educational Progress, also known as the Nation’s Report Card, shows what a serious problem we face. Only about two in five white and Asian fourth-graders were proficient in reading in 2005, and fewer than one in five Hispanic, black, and low-income children demonstrated proficiency in reading.

High-quality early education -- beginning at age 3 or 4 and continuing through the third grade -- will make a tremendous difference. We need to educate right from the start.

We call this approach PK-3. The idea is to raise student achievement by aligning the standards, curriculum, instruction, and assessment in high-quality prekindergarten programs with those in kindergarten through the third grade.

Instruction during these years should balance child-centered approaches with teacher-directed approaches. The curriculum should focus on social competence and self-discipline, as well as academic skills.

Principals should foster teamwork among PK-3 teachers by providing adequate time for common planning, both within and across grades. And school districts should provide appropriate professional development opportunities.

PK-3 is especially important for Hispanic children because these years are critical for learning English.

Whether children are successful in learning a second language after age 3 depends to a large extent on the characteristics of the child, as well as the language-learning environment. Social confidence, an outgoing personality, and the willingness to take risks all appear to facilitate a young child’s rapid acquisition of English language skills.

Hispanic children generally come to school with these personal and social skills.

Teachers rated the children of Mexican immigrant families at kindergarten entry as more socially and emotionally competent than their peers from similar socioeconomic backgrounds. The Hispanic cultural emphasis on family cohesiveness, respect, and moral development may provide a foundation of social security for young Latinos.

Unfortunately, many educators lack the cultural sensitivity to leverage these abilities. Hispanic culture is often not celebrated in school or used as the basis for learning.

One of the most effective strategies to teach English to children in PK-3 and raise their achievement is English Plus Spanish (EPS), which encompasses a wide range of formal and informal approaches to using both English and Spanish in the classroom.

Despite the benefits of early education, Hispanic children have long been significantly underrepresented in center-based prekindergarten programs.

Cultural preferences are sometimes cited as the reason. Yet recent research indicates that socioeconomic barriers can account for at least one-half and perhaps the entire preK enrollment gap between children in newcomer families from Mexico and white children in nonimmigrant families. This is compounded by a lack of knowledge about program availability among Hispanic parents, their inability to afford preK, and parents’ lack of English skills.

To improve third-grade outcomes for Hispanic children, school board officials should expand access to prekindergarten by providing information to Hispanic parents in Spanish and locating programs in neighborhoods with large concentrations of Hispanic families.

A priority must also be placed on increasing the number of bilingual, culturally knowledgeable PK-3 teachers through college scholarships and loan forgiveness programs. Partnerships with local schools of education, such as the one Arizona State University has with the Phoenix school system, can give new teachers the experience they need to work effectively with Hispanic children.

School districts should work with states to create assessments of Spanish language proficiency and development and to adopt at least one bilingual or Spanish language curriculum for the PK-3 grades.

To maintain a strong economy and become competitive internationally, we need to prepare all of our children to participate fully in today’s society. We can do this if we start them off right with a high-quality PK-3 education.