New Zealand

Victoria to honour kōhanga reo pioneer

27 November 2006

Victoria to honour kōhanga reo pioneer

A Māori leader who played a key role in establishing the kōhanga reo movement and reversing the decline in the Māori language is to receive an honorary doctorate from Victoria University.

Iritana Te Rangi Tawhiwhirangi (Ngāti Porou, Ngāti Kahungunu, Ngāpuhi, Canadian, English) will receive an honorary Doctor of Literature degree at the University’s marae-based graduation ceremony, Te Hui Whakapūmau, on 8 December.

After graduating from the then Wellington Teachers’ Training College in 1948, Mrs Tawhiwhirangi began teaching on the East Coast before joining the Department of Māori Affairs as a Welfare Officer in Ruatoria. It was in this role that she worked to develop a network of playcentres on the East Coast, the first network of early childhood education for Māori in the regions.

Her involvement with early childhood education continued when she moved to Lower Hutt in 1972 and in 1980 she became the first Māori woman to be appointed as one of the Department’s District Officers, rising to be Chief Executive of the Department’s Community Services section the following year.

Following on from policy work she undertook on the establishment of language nests, in 1982 she was appointed as an inaugural trustee and first General Manager of the Te Kōhanga Reo National Trust Board, a position she held for two years. The first kōhanga reo, Pukeatua, was opened in Wainuiomata, one of about 100 established in 1982 and, by 1994, there were more than 800 catering for about 14,000 children.

She returned to work for the Department full-time in 1984 as National Director of Community Services, and was appointed Assistant Secretary of Māori Affairs in 1986. Retiring from the Department in 1989, in 1990 she returned to the Trust Board, where she served as Chief Executive Officer till 2003. She remains a trustee of the Board.

In a long and varied public career, Mrs Tawhiwhirangi has served on a host of government or official committees and working parties involved in the development of education policy. Her significance as an educational leader was recognised when she was a member of the Ministerial Working Group for the development of a strategic plan for early childhood education in 2001 and facilitated the collaborative bicultural project that resulted in the development of Te Whariki, the Ministry of Education early childhood curriculum for all New Zealanders.

She has also been involved with a wide variety of community organisations, including the Māori Women’s Welfare League, of which she is a life member, and the Māori Education Trust. She has been a guest lecturer at the former Wellington College of Education, Victoria University, University of Alaska at Fairbanks, the University of British Columbia and the University of Utah. She received an MBE in 1992, a Women’s Suffrage Medal in 1993 and was made a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2001.

Vice-Chancellor, Professor Pat Walsh, said Mrs Tawhiwhirangi was one of the cornerstones of the Kōhanga Reo movement.

“While initially designed as a means to revitalise the Maōri language, kōhanga reo achieved much, much more by mobilising thousands of Māori parents to become involved in the education of their children.

“Picking up on the playcentre philosophy of community ownership and management, she helped create a whānau development model that is not only underpinned by cultural and administrative sovereignty, but has also created new opportunities in education and employment for Māori women. Internationally, the Kōhanga Reo model is now the established benchmark for the regeneration of indigenous languages. The excellence seen today in the annual national Te Korimako oratory competitions, for Māori secondary students, is derived from the foundations laid by Kohanga Reo.

“While she works from a Māori kaupapa or philosophy, she is one of those rare people who can move effectively in both the Māori and Pākehā worlds and be respected in both. She is politically astute and has shown outstanding leadership in lobbying members of Parliament of all political hues to provide funding for the kōhanga reo movement, without which it probably would not have survived.”

Comment: I love stories like this.

Garden School Tattler


It was calmer today, but we can tell there is a storm on the way. The weather map has a whopper over Missouri right now. Although the children’s behavior has been really outstanding, we can tell they are antic, so we’ve been keeping them busy.

I’ve been studying the high fiber diet, and I am trying to make higher fiber foods for the children. A lot of what we serve is homemade. That means when I reach for the flour bin, I reach for both the white flour bin and the whole wheat flour bin. When I reach for the flour, I also reach for the oats and the wheat germ. Most of the children’s food can be made, so why buy chemical foods?

Today we had tacos with beef, cheese and sour cream, brown beans, grapes, bananas and milk. The tortillas were corn. I could make these, but it would take most of the morning. Corn tortillas are acceptable. The brown beans were canned, and in the future, I will make these. Baking beans is not hard.

This morning we had homemade oat muffins with a glaze, bananas and milk.

When the health department came in, we were cited for crumbs on the floor. It didn’t bother me – better crumbs on the floor than whole muffins in the trash can.

We will have very special special visitors next Friday. These women are the childcare development people from United Way. They have heard about us and want to see the place for themselves. Naturally, we are delighted to have them visit.

Today we had class time and then this afternoon we had fine arts and flute. The children seem to be enjoying the busyness of the afternoons.

The older girls asked this morning if we could bake Christmas cookies, and I told them next Wednesday on the Feast of St. Nickolas we would bake cookies as a school. It will be a very messy morning, but a fun one.

North Carolina

Charlotte Observer, Charlotte, NC

LANCASTER

Day care grant aimed at child development

CHRIS MCGINN
Special to the Observer

New Beginnings Child Development Center in Lancaster is getting renovations to its infant and toddler areas thanks to help from Lancaster County First Steps.

The local organization, which helps preschool-age children, has chosen to focus many of its efforts on children age up to age 3 because of rapid brain development in that period of life, says Lora Bryson, executive director of First Steps.

Now it has a grant to target areas where those children spend much of their time.

The center is one of five countywide to receive extensive renovation to infant and toddler areas to make them more child-friendly and developmentally appropriate. The other centers — Barnes Child Care, Colonial Child Care, Davis Childcare-Lynwood Drive and Kid Stuff will receive renovations by March.

The renovations are more than a new coat of bright paint. They involve nearly $15,000 per center worth of new furniture, structural improvements, educational toys and design planning.

Among the improvements at New Beginnings CDC are a new food preparation center, new cribs, motion-sensing faucets near the diaper area, more natural lighting and new flooring, paint and furniture.

Now, children can play on new vinyl mats, explore their world with age-appropriate toys or sleep in safe cribs with clear-view ends.

“I’m so proud of it,” says Lisa Anderson, owner and director of the center.

The redesign was planned by early childhood experts Dr. Linda Hutchison and Dr. Elsbeth Brown. Their BASICSpaces concepts have been implemented in centers in seven S.C. counties.

BASICSpaces stands for Building Academic Success In Childhood Spaces. Brown says brain development research shows that more learning occurs in the first three years of life than at any other time.

“Brain development in the first three years is impressive, rapid and long-lasting,” said Brown.

By creating stimulating and nurturing environments for children, child care centers can enhance learning.

“Children are living in these environments,” said Brown, noting that children often spend 10 to 12 hours a day in a single room.

Brown recommends parents and child-care centers think about what they would want from a place where they ate, slept, relaxed and played for that long each day.

Also, Brown said the environments should stimulate the senses of taste, touch and sight that are how a baby learns about the world.

For example, infants spend more than 90 percent of the time looking up — often at fluorescent lights — during a time when their vision is developing. She recommends softer, natural lighting for infant and toddler rooms.

Another issue is loud sounds in rooms where there are lots of hard surfaces. The redesigned rooms at New Beginnings feature vinyl padded flooring that resembles hardwood floors to help absorb sound.

There should also be room for infants and toddlers to explore in a safe way to develop.

The funding is from a nearly $500,000 Early Learning Opportunities Act grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Typically First Steps money goes to training and other support programs, but this grant was specifically written to allow renovations like that at New Beginnings.

The centers were chosen based on evaluations of their infant and toddler areas and their interest in improving their centers, said Bryson.

The centers also had to agree to participate in training sessions for workers, provide parenting classes, work with nurses to improve health standards and lower caregiver to child ratios.

First Steps also has supplied a mentor to each participant.

The renovations to New Beginnings CDC have already prompted excitement. Parent volunteers have offered to paint the center’s other rooms and are providing additional supplies.

Helping with the renovations are Youthbuild supervisor Danny Reed and his team of students from Communities in Schools, a program that gives older students building experience. Local businesses including Sistare Carpet, Porter Belk, McBride’s Building Supply, Home Depot, Roger’s Heating and Air and Russell Myers Plumbing have also contributed.

Lancaster County School District’s Learn TV will be documenting the changes to all five spaces in programs modeled after The Learning Channel’s popular Trading Spaces show.

What to Look For In Child Care

Does the area appear clean, safe and comfortable for every age child?For mobile infants, is there a safe place to crawl and explore?

Does there seem to be enough space indoors and out so all the children can move freely and safely?

Is there a second adult in the room/home or available if needed?

Does there seem to be enough furniture, toys, boos and other equipment for all the children in care?

Is the bathroom clean and accessible?

Is the license or registration posted? Look for any deficiencies noted.

Are there a variety of toys, books and other materials? Are they within the children’s reach?

Is there a daily schedule posted with opportunities for active and quiet play?

Comment: Making a home away from home should be the goal of every childcare facility.

Garden School Tattler

Pictures are today; that means class time is limited or at least disrupted.

Yesterday’s afternoon class list went very well. We began with story time, and then a spaghetti lunch with whole wheat noodles, meat sauce, mock garlic bread, oranges and carrots and dip and milk.

We went to recess and then came in promptly for Spanish, New Song and we sang three: Jingle Bells with the verses, Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, and Oh, Little Town of Bethlehem. We will try to know at least 25 carols by Christmas break. Then it was Bible Study and the story of the Annunciation, and History with the story of the Christmas Tree.

Today, after lunch, we will tackle the planet placement of the universe in geography and then learn some new songs from recordings. We will read the Little Tin Soldier to the Benedict group while Miss Jana does science with the Scholastica group.

Today we will have hot dogs on buns with melted cheese, potatoes and ketchup, tangerines and applesauce and Milk.

Teaching well behaved children is a pleasure. Yesterday’s group was as good as gold. We are so proud of them. One of our very young children happens to be one of our brightest. Yesterday, Nikolai asked if he could join the Benedict group. We always jump when a child is eager to move up. He is perhaps a year younger than the other children, but follows along very well. He just turned four and is at the top of my class.

Miss Kelly told me yesterday that she wants to bring in as many Christmas traditions as possible and share them with the children. Parents are welcome to contribute.

What We’re up to Nov. 27-Dec.1


Welcome back! We are well rested and ready to go!

Picture day is tomorrow. We have an excellent photographer. She takes great pictures. You can see samples of her work above the copy machine. Forms went out on Wednesday. If you need an extra copy they are on the front desk.

This year our Christmas project is going to be a bit different. This week each classroom is going to supply a wish list, via Christmas ornament. There will be a toy on each ornament that we would like to have for the school. We would like everyone to participate.

The toys need to be wrapped and brought in secretly (it’s a surprise). We recommend a brown paper bag. You can take as many ornaments as you want. We would like to start this next week. If you can add a toy from our wish list to your holiday shopping, it would really benefit the school. Santa will deliver the wrapped presents to the kids at the Christmas party. The children will also receive a little present to take home from us. If you have any questions please see Miss Molly.

Fundraiser money is due in by Thursday. Please tell your family and friends that participated, the checks will clear in the next few weeks. If you didn’t receive your fundraiser merchandise, it should be in this week. I called the corporate office and complained bitterly. The orders have been placed and they will get them here ASAP!

Education

Education Next: Study Shows High Quality Teaching in Early Childhood Education Closes Achievement Gap, but Not Enough Programs Provide It

STANFORD, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–In a targeted study of children who are, on average, behind their peers at age four and further behind by 1st grade, Robert C. Pianta, professor of education at the University of Virginia, found that learning gaps can be eliminated for children in high-quality classrooms who receive strong instructional and emotional support from teachers. The new study is described in the winter issue of Education Next, released this week.

Pianta and a team of researchers examined the effects on two groups of at-risk children: those whose mothers had less than a four-year college degree and those who had displayed significant behavioral, social, or academic problems. Children from low-education households who were placed in high-quality classrooms achieved at the same level as those whose mothers had a college degree, and children displaying previous problem behavior showed achievement and adjustment levels identical to children who had no history of problems. At-risk children who did not receive these supports did not show such gains.

These results are consistent with other studies that show a substantial increase (up to 50 percent of a standard deviation on standardized achievement tests) in achievement in high-quality classrooms, with greater effects often accruing to children with higher levels of risk and disadvantage. (The size of the well known racial gap in test-score performance is between one-half and one standard deviation.)

Few of the nations highest-need children, however, are currently receiving the kind of quality early education experience they require, despite rising participation rates in early education programs, warns Pianta.

Piantas analysis of two recent large-scale early education studies — the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development (NICHD SECCYD) and the National Center for Early Development and Learning (NCEDL) Multi-State Pre-K Study — confirms this.

The 11-state NCEDL study revealed that, even in state-sponsored pre-K programs staffed with credentialed teachers with bachelors degrees, variations in the quality of teaching were considerable, as was also the case in Pianta and his colleagues analysis of 1st- and 3rd-grade classrooms in the NICHD study.

Among pre-K classrooms in the study, only about 25 percent of those serving four-year-olds provided students with high levels of emotional and instructional support. And preschoolers lucky enough to have such support in pre-K are not highly likely to be enrolled in similarly high-quality classrooms in kindergarten or 1st grade. In those grades, too, only about one-quarter of classrooms are providing the instructional and emotional nurturing that young children require.

Because the standard measures of teacher quality — degrees and experience — are not reliable proxies for what teachers do in the classroom and tend not to be consistently related to gains in achievement, policies that mandate accumulating course credits are not likely to produce teachers with high-quality classroom skills or necessarily raise student achievement, unless those credits are tied to knowledge and skill about implementing instruction in actual classrooms.

The odds are stacked against children getting the kind of early education experiences that close gaps, explains Pianta. Most children in pre-K, K, and 1st-grade classrooms are exposed to quite low levels of instructional support, and the quality is particularly poor. We also see this in 3rd and 5th grades in our work there — its a problem throughout the system that we need to solve.

To combat the uneven quality of early education instruction, Pianta has called for more effective professional development focused on the specific challenges of teaching young children: standardizing descriptions of teacher-student interactions, direct assessments of teacher and classroom tied to incentive and credentialing systems, and improved alignment of early childhood education with K-12.

Read Preschool Is School, Sometimes in the new issue of Education Next, now online at www.EducationNext.org.

Robert C. Pianta is a professor of education at the Curry School of Education and director of the Center for Advanced Study of Teaching and Learning at the University of Virginia.

Education Next is a scholarly journal published by the Hoover Institution that is committed to looking at hard facts about school reform. Other sponsoring institutions are the Harvard Program on Education Policy and Governance and the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation.

Comment: This is exactly what we have been muling about at the GS. We’re on the cutting edge of early childhood education.

Ohio


WKRC Cincinnati

Child-care rating system goes statewide

LAST UPDATE: 11/20/2006 10:18:49 AMCOLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) – The state has a new rating system that should help parents make that important choice about child care.

The new Step Up to Quality program will award participating child-care centers one, two or three stars, based on factors including class sizes, staff training and the quality of the teaching.

To earn the top rating, centers must go beyond state licensing requirements. For example, Ohio child-care centers are expected to have one teacher for every eight three-year-olds, but at three-star facilities the ratio is one-to-six.

The grading program has already been in place in nine counties. It goes statewide on November 30th.

Comment: There is a star rating system here in EVV as well, and that is what we are trying to do. The finished program binder will be available for parents to view as soon as it’s finished.

Vermont


From the Rutland Herald

by Sarah Hinckley

Article published Nov 17, 2006
Tinmouth weighs benefits of preschool for 3-year-old kids

Is publicly funded preschool for 3-year-olds an academic advancement or a half-day day care experience?

The Tinmouth School Board contemplated this question during its Oct. 18 meeting and is considering not enrolling 3-year-olds in the preschool program for the 2007-08 school year.

“It’s not absolutely cast in concrete,” said School Board member Helen Mango. “We wanted to give the program a few years to get on its feet.”

Tinmouth School is in its third year of offering preschool.

In the first year, only 4-year-olds were admitted.

For the last two years, the program has accepted 3-year-olds, too.

To remain financially stable, the program needs at least seven students.

“It’s hovering around the seven-ish mark right now,” Mango said. “It can’t be getting smaller than that because it would cost us money.”

The board occasionally evaluates the program to make sure it is benefiting students and the school.

One of the points it considers is whether 3-year-olds get an academic boost from preschool, or if their attendance amounts to day care, Mango said.

The evidence of benefits to 4-year-olds is much clearer.

“Schools shouldn’t be in the business of simply providing childcare,” Mango said.

She and the board have asked for feedback from preschool teacher Lisa Edge and school Principal Pat Goetz.

Because the school is so small, administrators are able to evaluate student enrollment individually .

There are three 3-year-old children in the preschool program and six 4-year-olds students.

Additional students can join during the year, and parents are free to withdraw their children.

The number of 3-year-olds next year is expected to be small, according to Mango.

Part-time preschool enrollment does not influence the school’s budget as much as full-time enrollment of older students does.

At its Nov. 15 meeting, the board did not discuss the preschool program, focusing instead on an initial review of the 2007-08 school budget.

“The 3-year-olds currently enrolled are certainly going to stay” for fourth grade, Mango said.

Comment:

Three year old children benefit by being around learning. In families, children who are allowed to listen to good conversation among adults are more socially advanced than those who are sent away. It’s the same with the larger family of school. Playground and play time with older or younger children benefits everyone.

Cost

Wednesday, November 15, 2006 – 12:00 AM

STEVE RINGMAN / THE SEATTLE TIMES

Money from an anonymous donor plus public dollars help The New School offer things such as smaller class sizes, more teacher prep time, electives and all-day kindergarten. Students Naomi Messele, 6, left; Ayanna Beavers, 7; and Martiana Lapoint, 7, watch Elvis Lang, 7, write the name of their reading group for their teacher.

STEVE RINGMAN / THE SEATTLE TIMES

Christopher Austin, 7, dives into “The Fox and His Friends.”

STEVE RINGMAN / THE SEATTLE TIMES

New School second-grade teacher Kamilah Abdul-Alim has just 17 students in her class. “Relationships are fundamental” to what the school does, says principal Christopher Drape.


Seattle school gets results, but it costs a bundle

By Emily Heffter
Seattle Times staff reporter

Inside The New School’s crumbling building in Rainier Valley, some of Seattle’s most at-risk kids are getting what may be the most expensive public education in the state.

On top of the public money every Seattle elementary school gets, an anonymous donor more than doubles The New School’s funding every year. This year, it got $1.5 million.

The school spends it on small class sizes, teacher training, music and art. On preschool and all-day kindergarten, and extra hours in the school day.

These are the very things that a consultant advising the governor’s Washington Learns panel considered an “adequate” education. But at The New School, they cost twice what the school district is paying now.

The notion of spreading that model to every school in the state seemed so outlandishly expensive that members of the Washington Learns panel referred to the consultant’s report as a “wish list.”

The committee’s report ended up including only some of what the consultant suggested. Now it’s up to the Legislature to hash out the recommendations, while students at The New School live the state’s “wish list” every day — on someone else’s dime.

“We know what works, and we don’t have the money to do it,” said Carla Santorno, Seattle Public Schools’ chief academic officer.

The New School opened as a preschool and kindergarten in 2002 with an anonymous donation that supplied all but $195,000 of the school’s $1.4 million budget. Since then, it has added one grade a year — up to fourth grade this year, with an enrollment of 301 — and eventually plans to accommodate the eighth grade.

But the grant from The New School Foundation is scheduled to expire in 2012 and shrinks every year as the school grows: This year, the grant is 54 percent of the school’s budget, or about $1.5 million.

The extra money makes a difference in the school every day.

On a recent fall afternoon, three third-grade teachers and a consultant perched on kid-size chairs in an empty classroom, rifling through math worksheets. Did this student need extra homework slipped into her backpack? Was another student using logic or memorization to solve those problems?

The grant buys the extra hour per month for teachers to work together on student assessments. It buys the time at the beginning of the school year to talk to each student, one on one, about math.

It pays for substitutes during the school day so first-grade teachers can watch an experienced teacher give children a writing lesson. It pays for preschool for 4-year-olds and all-day kindergarten, for bus rides home when kids need to stay after school for extra help.

Signs of success

The first tangible results of this effort came last spring.

More than 71 percent of New School third-graders passed both the math and reading sections of the Washington Assessment of Student Learning. Districtwide, 62 percent did.

The New School’s demographics are comparable with those of other schools in the neighborhood, but its scores were twice as high.

Families interested in enrolling in the preschool or kindergarten programs last fall had to live within a mile of the school to secure a spot.

The school has more two-parent families than surrounding schools, and fewer children in poverty, said principal Christopher Drape. “People choose it with intent, which lends it more stability,” he said.

The school also tries to recruit low-income children, students of color and those who speak English as a second language, said Laura Kohn, executive director of The New School Foundation.

The New School Foundation wants to serve disadvantaged students, but it is also making a political statement about what an adequately funded education looks like, said Kohn.

“Our project doesn’t give you the magic number, because we aren’t testing out different levels of funding, but I think at The New School we’re demonstrating that the level of funding that school’s getting is adequate to give kids an extraordinary education,” said Kohn.

And supporters point to the school’s results: Academic success, they say, is something money can buy.

More than money

On the state level, things aren’t quite as simple.

Rep. Ross Hunter, D-Medina, who served on a Washington Learns subcommittee, called The New School “a good laboratory.”

But the right amount of funding “will be different for different schools,” he said. “A school in the Rainier Valley has very different needs than a school in the Yakima Valley that has very different needs than a school in Medina does. You can’t take the number of dollars that we spend at The New School, multiply it by a million and say, ‘That’s how much we should be spending.’ “

And educators argue that money alone won’t guarantee a school’s success. It needs to be combined with good leadership and vision.

Santorno, Seattle’s chief academic officer, said that research shows small class sizes work — but not if they’re taught the same way as large classes would be.

But Drape, the school’s principal, said you can’t separate the extra funding The New School receives from the culture that’s formed there.

“One of the things that is very powerful for us is the depth of the relationships that we have with kids and with families, and that is fostered by small class sizes,” said Drape. “People are right in that money alone is not going to make the difference that we want to make, but … relationships are fundamental to what we are doing, and it is easier to develop relationships when you have fewer kids in your class.”

The New School is not without its critics. In the struggling South End, some parents see The New School as powerful and privileged at the expense of other schools. Some say The New School Foundation had too much influence in the district’s proposed February bond measure, which would allocate $64.7 million for a new building for the school.

“I don’t mind if some kids have more stuff because they have a foundation helping them, but I don’t think they should get ahead off the backs of other kids,” said Melissa Westbrook, who opposes the bond measure because The New School’s building is included.

Community counts

Lisa Moore-Roberson, whose two daughters attend The New School, didn’t know the school got extra money until after she became co-chair of the school’s parent group. Then she studied the budget and learned that the snacks, extra teachers and free preschool are all paid for with foundation money. Now she struggles with the question of inequity every day as she walks her kids to school past Dunlap, an elementary school that is so close, it shares a playground with The New School.

“It just makes me kind of feel a little different about it,” she said. “It just brought that divisiveness in the community.”

Her kids are doing well academically, but what she likes most about The New School can’t be bought with a grant, and research says it’s another key to academic success: parental involvement.

Almost every day, Moore-Roberson is at the school, helping in the classroom or hanging out in the common area at the entrance, where parents are gathered on couches, drinking coffee before work. They talk about their kids and last year organized to apply for a city Department of Neighborhoods grant that pays for a multicultural celebration at the parent alliance meeting each month.

“Sometimes we joke, ‘Well, if we just had a bed, we wouldn’t have to go home,’ ” she said.

And that sense of community is something money can’t buy.

Comment: Recently we’ve had a small increase in tuition. Most of the parents were very supportive. They understand what this article is saying, that education costs. Most places locally would have simply cut staff to make the ends meet. We didn’t do that. Every dime our little place makes goes directly to the student. There are no profits. Educators know it costs to provide the kind of environment necessary to learn. That environment means the right people with the right knowledge and interest to be able to three things: the interest to find out and remember information about the world, the intelligence to sort out what’s important and the stamina to present it 40 hours a week. The environment also has to support what teachers are doing. In Evv, that’s just not going to happen someplace else.