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Early childhood education is a very important investment in our future
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By Charlie Warner
Argus News Editor
Fact- Fewer than half of Minnesota’s children enter kindergarten fully prepared.
Fact- 20 percent of third graders in Minnesota can’t read.
Fact- Between birth and age five the brain develops at a faster rate than at any other time in a person’s life.
Fact- When planning future jails, several states determine how many
beds they will need by the number of third graders who can’t read.
Fact- For every dollar spent on early childhood education, the return
is 12-fold. This is figured on the additional financial strain on
society for special tutoring, probation, court services, law
enforcement, chemical dependency counseling, and incarceration.
“Early childhood education is one of the most important investments we
can make in our society today. The earlier we begin reading to our
children, and start providing them with the basic fundamentals of
education, the better off we will all be,” former State Sen. Duane
Benson told a group of about 40 Houston County educators and business
leaders.
Benson, who is the executive director of the Minnesota Early Learning
Foundation (MELF), was the key note speaker at an informational brunch
hosted by the Houston County Early Childhood Initiative Thursday
morning at the Four Seasons Community Center in Caledonia. As Minnesota
continues to become more diversified, the need for early childhood
education becomes that much greater.
Benson told the group that the United States is under-investing in
early childhood development, which actually diminishes our nation’s
ability to compete in the global marketplace. Research confirms the
huge long-term economic payoffs from investments in quality early
childhood development programs.
The idea for a state-wide agency to promote early childhood education
was born in 2001 when six separate initiative foundations saw the need
for an organization that could champion early childhood education on a
broader scale. In 2003 the Minnesota Early Childhood Initiative was
formed, thanks to a $3.2 million grant from the McKnight Foundation.
The grant leveraged funding from other corporations and foundations,
and was followed by a second $3 million grant from the McKnight
Foundation in 2006.
Houston County’s Early Childhood Initiative (ECI) was also formed in
2003 with support from the Southern Minnesota Initiative Foundation.
The local ECI is comprised of parents, business people, educators,
childcare professions, and community members with a wide range of
backgrounds.
The Houston County ECI provides county-wide infant screenings, supports
kindergarten readiness programs, provides professional childcare
training and has undertaken an ongoing public awareness campaign about
the importance of quality early care and education.
Mary Zaffke of the Houston County Public Nursing Department told the
group about the importance of screening infants between the ages of
four and six months.
“If infants are having developmental problems at four to six months,
they will have more issues down the road. It is so important to detect
these problems as soon as possible, so they can be addressed right
away,” Zaffke explained.
Zaffke noted between 30 to 35 percent of the families invited to the
screens actually attend them. And of those who attend, 100 percent felt
they did have concerns about their babies.
Representatives from the La Crescent-Hokah School District gave a short
presentation on “Kindergarten Kamp” they held last summer to bring
children preparing for their first year of school up to speed.
Mary Lou Busta also provided information as to some of the recent
activities of the early childhood education programs in both the
Caledonia and Spring Grove school districts.
Getting parents involved is of paramount importance, according to
Benson. Even before birth, both the mother and father should begin
reading to their child. And they need to continue nurturing that child
after he or she begins school.
“Once a child begins school, that doesn’t mean the education system
takes over,” Benson cautioned. “We should not become a ‘nanny state,’
as Newt Gingrich said. Parents, and that means both the mother and
father, need to be involved all the way through their school years.”
In its Minnesota School Readiness Study, the Minnesota Department of
Education stated, “school readiness is not just ready children. It
includes ready families, ready schools and ready communities. A ready
family includes adults who understand they are the most important
people in the child’s life and take responsibility for the child’s
school readiness through direct, frequent and positive involvement and
interest in the child.”
“These kids are our future. We need to do everything possible to make
their start a positive one. That is what we are all about,” Benson
concluded.
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