JONESBORO -- To better develop more effective pre-kindergarten programs in Arkansas, the state needs more early education teachers who are trained in childhood brain development, the coordinator of Arkansas State University's Childhood Services said Thursday evening.
At a seminar at Arkansas State University at Jonesboro hosted by Forward Arkansas, a group that is studying the effectiveness of pre-kindergarten programs, Janice Carter urged other educators to learn more about how brains develop in children from birth to five years old.
"It is critically imperative in the first years of a child that we have high-quality pre-K programs," Carter said. "Our society depends upon it."
She said children will spend 11,500 hours in day care between the ages of four months to five years, which is more time than they will spend in classrooms from kindergarten through the ninth grade.
"In the past, it was morally and ethically tough to study babies' brains," she said. "New technology allows an easier approach.
"What we're learning now is that we have to pay attention to it."
Forward Arkansas, a partnership among the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation, the Walton Family Foundation and the Arkansas Board of Education, formed three years ago to work with educators, legislators and business leaders to develop better early childhood education programs.
Gov. Asa Hutchinson indicated that legislators would increase early childhood education funding by $3 million this year.
"That is appreciated," said Cory Biggs, associate director of Forward Arkansas. "But we need more."
He said the organization is lobbying for a $20 million increase in permanent funding to increase pre-kindergarten teacher salaries, to provide more early education training and to better evaluate existing programs.
"You are the advocates for pre-K in Arkansas," he told the 40 educators who attended Thursday's seminar.
Jonesboro Public Schools Superintendent Kim Wilbanks said her district has about 300 children enrolled in its early education programs and spends $2.5 million a year on the programs.
She said she has tracked their successes, noting that children who come from lower-income families often have more difficulty in kindergarten if they do not attend pre-kindergarten programs.
"They have struggles based upon their environment," Wilbanks said. "We track kindergarten students coming in. There are some children who are so far behind before they even start. Pre-K makes a difference.
"It's a lasting investment."
Geania Dickey, an early childhood education advocate and member of the state's Invest Early Coalition, said some kindergarten students are offered fewer opportunities to learn because instructors are trying to help children who are behind to "catch up."
"Some kids can't move forward when they are waiting for others to catch up," she said. "We need model programs in our communities and states for quality."
David Rainey, a former state representative from Dumas and member of the University of Arkansas's Office of Education Policy, said it's been 10 years since early childhood education received major increases in state funding.
"If there is a groundswell of support for it, if there is support for something -- even though there may be other priorities in the budget -- those things can be managed," he said.
"We need to make it clear to folks in the legislature that we believe Arkansas can be a leading state in education."
He asked those in attendance to urge legislators to make commitments to pre-kindergarten program funding.
A spokesman for Forward Arkansas said the organization plans to hold more panel discussions throughout the state this year.
NW News on 02/04/2017