ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, September 16, 1996 TAG: 9609160106
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
SOURCE: Associated Press
NOTE: Below
All children need access to two years of high-quality preschool, but too many simply mark time waiting for ``real'' education to begin in kindergarten, a new report says.
The report, released today by the New York-based Carnegie Corp.'s Task Force on Learning in the Primary Grades, proposes a blueprint to ensure the success of youngsters ages 3 to 10.
Task force co-chairman Shirley Malcom is convinced the goal of universal preschool can become a reality for 3-and 4-year-olds. ``You know, 40 years ago, there was no universal kindergarten, either,'' she said in an interview.
Right now, publicly funded programs and systems supported by employers or churches constitute a patchwork that offers American children an array of educational experiences, not all of them good.
``The kids live in a humpty-dumpty world. All of it is fractured - the pieces don't hang together,'' said Malcom, who directs education and human resources for the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
To change that, the report says, preschool programs should connect not only with what parents try to teach their toddlers but with what kindergarten and elementary school teachers will try to accomplish once the child enters school.
Today, Malcom said, few preschool teachers even talk to kindergarten teachers.
Preschool also should complement after-school programs and what children watch on television or learn on the Internet or at community activities ranging from Scouts and Little League to church, the report says.
``Academic self-image is shaped between the age of 3 and 10,'' according to the report. ``Children who take an early dislike to schoolwork or have doubts about their academic worth face disadvantage in all future learning.''
The report, being taken up at a two-day conference in New York ending Tuesday, also recommends:
*Reallocation of resources to programs with proven track records.
*Programs to teach parents, rich and poor, how to be their child's first teacher.
*High standards for elementary schools.
``If you have high expectations, and if you have the vision of where you want a child to be at grade one, six and 12, then you have to set the course,'' said Marlene Guy, principal at Richardson Elementary School in Washington, D.C. ``If you have low expectations, that's what you'll get.''
According to the report, many of the task force's recommendations could be attained by realigning priorities and spending money only on programs proven to work. The report says more public money, however, would be needed to ensure that all children ages 3 and 4 have access to early +childhood educational programs to prepare them for their first day of kindergarten.
LENGTH: Medium: 59 linesby CNB