News & editorials

On this page are selected newspaper articles and other media articles
highlighting Tulsa-area early childhood developments ...

Oklahoma Ranks High:
Standards for Small Family Child Care Homes

On January 22, 2008, The National Association of Child Care Resource & Referral Agencies’ (NACCRRA) released a new report - Leaving Children to Chance: NACCRRA’s Ranking of State Standards and Oversight of Small Family Child Care Homes.

Full Report: http://www.naccrra.org/docs/members_only/FCC_report_05.pdf

The report scores and ranks each of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and the Department of Defense (DoD) Child Care System on select standards relating to each state’s current regulations of small family child care homes. The standards examined focused on a number of basic measures intended to ensure the health, safety, and well-being of children while in home-based care.

Oklahoma fully meets four out of the 14 standards NACCRRA reviewed, and partially meets the remainder. High on the list of strengths cited in the study is the Oklahoma requirement that child care providers caring for even one unrelated child for pay must have a license. Oklahoma received full marks for conducting unannounced routine inspections and for unannounced visits in response to a complaint. The study also rated Oklahoma highly for addressing critical health and safety areas in its regulations as well as for requiring appropriate toys, materials and learning activities.Nationally, almost 2 million children under the age of 6 are in some type of family child care setting each week. These are essentially businesses being operated with little or no oversight. On average, children of working mothers are spending 36 hours per week in child care. Research has shown that 90 percent of brain development occurs between birth and age five, which makes this time critical to child development. With the safety and well-being of so many children at risk, it is paramount that states have standards in place to ensure that family child care settings are safe and offer learning opportunities.

MORE INFO: Contact the Oklahoma Child Care Resource & Referral Association at www.oklahomachildcare.org or 405/942-5001.

New York Times Article:
Bridging Gaps Early On in Oklahoma

By DAVID LEONHARDT

Published: February 7, 2007

To get to the new preschool in the Kendall-Whittier neighborhood here, you drive down a dead-end stretch of East Fifth Place. Two of the houses on the street have been boarded up. Outside some of the others, cardboard boxes and appliances sit on the front lawn. Last week, those boxes and appliances were covered with snow.

But then you get to the end of the block and see the brick and stone building with the bright blue roof. Inside, sunlight streams into a front atrium, and children run around big classrooms that are filled with new wooden furniture. Set aside the neighborhood, and most parents would be thrilled to have their child going to school in a place like this.

The school is called Tulsa Educare, and it is the showpiece for the finest state preschool system in the country. And, yes, that state is Oklahoma, a bastion of small-government conservatism that hasn’t voted for a Democratic presidential candidate since Lyndon B. Johnson.

Almost a decade ago, thanks to a low-key push by a small group of state legislators, business executives and educators, Oklahoma agreed to pay for one year of prekindergarten. The program is voluntary, but 70 percent of 4-year-olds here now attend public preschool, more than in any other state. In every classroom, the head teacher must have a bachelor’s degree — nationwide, most preschool teachers don’t — and there must be a teacher for every 10 students.

This combination of quality and scale makes the Oklahoma program one of the most serious attempts to deal with economic inequality anywhere in the country. Long before children turn 5, there are already enormous gaps in their abilities. One study found that 3-year-olds with professional parents know about 1,100 words on average, while 3-year-olds whose parents are on welfare know only 525. Much of the gap is caused by environment rather than genes, according to a wide body of research.

By letting children start school at age 4 — and, if the current governor has his way, eventually at age 3 — Oklahoma is trying to give all of them at least a shot at success. Dexie Organ, a former drug user whose son David attends a Tulsa preschool she loves, put it better than I can: “I don’t care if they’re drug addicts’ children or doctors’ children — there is no child that should not have this opportunity.”

James J. Heckman, a Nobel Prize-winning economist at the University of Chicago, even argues that spending on preschool ultimately pays for itself. Early childhood education is so important that it makes workers more productive and reduces crime. No other form of education spending, certainly not the college financial-aid package passed recently by the House of Representatives, brings nearly the same bang for the buck. For years, advocates of early education have pointed to a few well-known success stories like the Perry Preschool Project in Ypsilanti, Mich. The low-income children from those programs went on to do better in school than many of their peers, to be arrested less often and to earn more money. But Perry was small and intensive, not the sort of program likely to be replicated nationwide.

Oklahoma is not a test. It suffers from all the typical imperfections of a big bureaucracy (including urinals at some schools that were too high for 4-year-old boys).

The state pays about $4,000 per 4-year-old, which isn’t enough for a full-day program. So some school districts offer only a half-day, leaving working parents to cobble together day care for the other half; other districts use federal or private funds to make up the difference. A local oil billionaire named George B. Kaiser, No. 27 on the Forbes 400 list of the richest Americans, and Warren E. Buffett’s daughter, Susan, essentially paid for the construction of Educare.

But the early results in Oklahoma have still been very encouraging. In every socioeconomic group, 4-year-olds have benefited from attending public preschool, researchers at Georgetown University found. (Most go to an elementary school, not a separate school like Educare.) All else being equal, for example, a child who went through a year of prekindergarten did 52 percent better on a letter-recognition test than one who didn’t.

Not surprisingly, the gains were largest for low-income children and for Latinos, many of whom don’t hear English at home. At McClure Elementary School here, where 97 percent of families are poor enough to qualify for free or reduced-price lunches, one whole class of kindergarteners started writing full sentences last month. Before the preschool program existed, teachers would celebrate if every student knew the alphabet by the end of kindergarten.

When I asked Bertha Jimenuez, whose son Ivan attends another Tulsa preschool, what he had learned there, she laughed and said: “Todo. Todo.” Everything.

The big remaining question is whether the gains will last for more than a few years, as they did for the Perry graduates. That won’t be clear for a while. But Oklahoma’s program has already been promising enough to inspire Illinois, Iowa, New Mexico, Virginia and other states to try to expand preschool. (Georgia has a pretty good program that predates Oklahoma’s.)

As this list of states suggests, preschool cuts across some of the usual ideological lines. Liberals like its antipoverty bent; conservatives prefer education to straight income redistribution; and business executives see preschool as a way to build a better work force. Mr. Kaiser likes to refer to himself as a “robber baron from red-state America” who has come to love public preschool.

The biggest preschool opponents tend to be religious conservatives worried about the creation of a nanny state. “There are plenty of critics,” Brad Henry, Oklahoma’s Democratic governor, told me, shortly before calling for universal preschool for 3-year-olds in his State of the State address on Monday. “We’ll just have to make the case.”

It’s worth remembering that some of this opposition stems from simple self-interest. Universal preschool is a threat to the many churches that help support themselves with the revenue from their day care programs. For the same reason, a coalition of Montessori schools in California helped defeat a flawed preschool ballot initiative there last year.

The opponents do have one important point to make: governments can put too much emphasis on preschool and day care. Children below age 1 fare better on average when a parent is home with them, research has shown, and toddlers can suffer if they spend long hours in day care. The ideal early-childhood policy wouldn’t just pay for preschool. It would also make it easier for parents to take time off from work.

But this country isn’t yet in any danger of having too much preschool. Just consider what has happened in the last generation: millions of women have entered the work force, making child care a real challenge for many families, and a deluge of scientific studies has pointed to the importance of early learning. Yet most states have done almost nothing to respond to the changes.

Did I mention that you can buy a perfectly nice house in Tulsa for $200,000?

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION/RESOURCES

To access the full article, including photographs: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/07/education/07leonhardt.html

"More on Child Development" companion article: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/07/education/07economix1.html

George Kaiser Speech on Early Childhood Education: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/07/education/07economix2.html

Summit targets premature births

Advocates focus on research and prevention as premature birth figures rise

By GINNIE GRAHAM, World Staff Writer - 12/10/2005

More babies are being born before they are ready and many face great physical and cognitive development obstacles as they age.

Advocates are spreading the message to reduce the risks of premature births, intervene before age 5 in children who are not developing properly, and invest in more prenatal and post-natal research.

A Child Watch Summit to study prematurity was held Friday, sponsored by the Child Care Resource Center, Jump Start and the March of Dimes.

"Prematurity is an American crisis," said Dr. Charleta Guillory of the Baylor College of Medicine. "We have half a million babies born premature in the United States. In Oklahoma, about 7,000 babies are born premature.

"Unfortunately in the U.S., for every half a million babies, about 100,000 babies end up with life-long conditions."

In the mid-1980s, medical technology advanced, saving more babies born prematurely. However, the rate of preterm births also began to rise as infertility drugs allowed for more multiple births and women had babies later in life.

"All we used to talk about was if a baby would survive," Guillory said. "Now, we say, 'What types of survival are we having?' As we've dramatically reduced infant mortality, we now have to turn our attention to morbidity."

The March of Dimes started a prematurity campaign in January 2003 to raise awareness of prematurity issues and raise money for research.

About 50 percent of all premature births have no known cause.

Doctors and researchers have determined three known risk factors -- multiple births such as twins or triplets, a past history of preterm labor and uterine or cervical abnormalities.

Other possible risk factors include chronic health problems such as diabetes, obesity and high blood pressure; infections during pregnancy; smoking, alcohol and drug use.

Children who are born prematurely may face problems ranging from congenital heart and respiratory diseases to attention deficit disorders, Guillory said.

Guillory said premature labor can't be prevented, but the risk factors can be addressed.

"Until we are able to understand the biological mechanisms of what triggers labors and understand all aspects of it, we cannot understand preterm labor," Guillory said. "Once we do that, the answers will flow. But there are a lot of things we can do while we are waiting."

Recommendations include intensive prenatal care to reducing stress levels for pregnant women.

"The whole prematurity campaign is about saving babies' lives and raising awareness about the risks of prematurity," said Guillory.

As part of the summit, about 45 participants toured a Head Start center at Disney Elementary and a University of Oklahoma Bedlam medical clinic located at Roy Clark Elementary in the Union school district.

The sites have plans for helping children who may be dealing with development issues stemming from difficult births. The centers also provide physical and mental health assistance for healthy children to continue proper development.

Jan Figart, interim director of the Child Care Resource Center for Tulsa County, said Oklahoma needs to focus on healthy births and providing interventions for children before they reach 5.

Oklahoma is following the nation in statistics. Preterm births have increased by 21 percent since 1992 and experienced a slight increase in infant mortality. The infant mortality increase is the first since about 1958.

Figart said other statistics may also indicate birth problems, such as increased enrollment in special education courses, a rise in juvenile crime and a need for more juvenile mental health services.

"We have all the tattle-tale signs that we have a problem," Figart said. "In order to identify the things that can hurt development, we should recognize those things before it becomes an issue in their lives. We need to intervene from birth to 5 years old.

"We are missing that opportunity, and we are missing the opportunity for a variety of reasons. What could have been prevented or handled with early intervention ends up being a treatment later."

Figart said not enough physicians and specialists are available for low-income families who are uninsured or on Medicaid.

"If we are going to identify problems early and intervene between birth and 5, it has to be a multiple approach including doctors, parents, child-care providers and anyone in contact with the child," Figart said.

The Child Watch summits are quarterly gatherings focused on child and family issues. The next summit is planned for the spring.

PREMATURITY FACTS

* One in eight babies is born prematurely nationwide.

* The rate of prematurity has increased more than 30 percent since 1981.

* Prematurity is the greatest risk factor for infant mortality. In 2002, 65 percent of infants who died before age 1 were born prematurely.

* Black women are nearly twice as likely to have their babies prematurely compared to white women.

* Half of all premature births have no known cause.

* Hospital charges for premature infants total $18.1 billion a year in the United States.

* The average cost of initial hospital care for babies born 13 weeks early is $202,700, compared to $1,100 for babies born at full term.

Source: March of Dimes

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Pre-K results grow by degrees

Teacher training bolsters learning, study claims

By GINNIE GRAHAM, Tulsa World World Staff Writer

12/8/2005

Requiring college degrees for pre-kindergarten teachers results in better student learning, according to a report released Tuesday by the National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER).

Oklahoma is among five states included in the study of children enrolled in state-funded pre-school and kindergarten programs. Other states are Michigan, New Jersey, West Virginia and South Carolina.

Children were tested on math, vocabulary and early literacy skills. About 5,100 children were included nationwide, with 838 of those from Oklahoma.

"Using the same measures in all states, what we find across the states are substantial gains in children's learning," said Steven Barnett, one of the study's authors. "The effects of the study are the first link in a chain that other studies have found to produce gains in long-term school success and economic benefits."

The study compares its results to those in a recent study of the academic improvements of children in the federal Head Start program.

Barnett said the researchers used identical or similar tests and found gains in vocabulary three or four times greater than in those in the Head Start study. The study also found greater increases in early math skills.

However, the studies do not account for variations in the Head Start grant from program to program. Local agencies administering Head Start grants may exceed the teacher and curriculum standards set by the federal government.

The children tested in the NIEER study are from all economic levels with varying previous education experiences. Head Start children are from below the federal poverty level and often cannot afford private, licensed child care.

Head Start officials question whether the comparisons are fair because of the differences in the program populations and missions.

While the positive results are encouraging, some officials wonder if the increases are due only to teacher qualifications. Other factors such as the type of curriculum used may have had an influence, they say.

Head Start is not operated solely as an education program. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services oversees the program.

Head Start was founded in 1964 to get young, poor children to the level of their more advantaged peers by meeting a variety of needs -- health care, nutrition, social services and education -- for children and their families.

In Tulsa, Head Start teachers are required to have a bachelor's degree and receive pay comparable to those in the public school system. The Community Action Project of Tulsa County, which administers the local grant, also has a partnership with Tulsa Public Schools to operate several Head Start and public 4-year-old classrooms together.

Barnett said collaborations between Head Start and state-funded programs are reflected in the study's academic improvements. He said Oklahoma and New Jersey have models of such partnerships.

"Those classrooms with good teacher standards and pay decent salaries are part of the results," Barnett said. "When you can walk in a classroom and see no differences, that is where it is working.

"What we find are less effective are Head Start programs that do not have those teachers. The average Head Start in the nation pays half of what teachers in state programs make."

Barnett said the study stresses the importance of high teacher qualifications in early education.

Oklahoma's teachers in the public 4-year-old programs must have a bachelor's degree in education and acquire certification in early childhood education.

Head Start requires that 50 percent of teachers have a two-year associate's degree, and others must have a Child Development Associate (CDA) credential or its equivalent. A CDA credential requires about 120 hours of training, according to the study.

"This study is not saying that in your state, that Head Start is less effective," Barnett said. "But across the nation, Head Start is not participating in state pre-K programs and do not have the same results. And that is most likely because they do not have the same kinds of teachers."

The states in the study were chosen because they have well-established, quality programs and officials welcomed researchers to gather data, Barnett said.

Oklahoma is one of about four states with a 4-year-old program open to all children and includes the program in the school-funding formula. Most states target their early education programs to low-income children or those who have other factors placing them at risk of school failure.

Barnett said the study disproves the argument that government cannot replicate successful early learning programs.

"This study tells you that is wrong," Barnett said. "A lot of states with preschools that are not of high quality is because there is not a lot of them requiring degrees.

"From our perspective, we wanted to show what happens if states did it right and adequately funds for high quality."

The study was conducted by the national institute with support from The Pew Charitable Trusts.

Oklahoma's results mirror similar studies of the state-funded programs showing academic gains. Oklahoma has been cited by several organizations for having a model public pre-kindergarten program.

The results showed gains for children from all economic levels, but children qualifying for the federal subsidized lunch program had greater improvements in print awareness.

"There is some evidence that, while all children gain, the benefits are greater for children from lower-income families," the study states.

"This evidence indicates that Oklahoma's program produces the kinds of effects that lead to increased school success and later improvements in children's reading and math skills."

NIEER report: www.nieer.org

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Tulsa Kids Story: ChildWatch Tour, 9/30/05

On September 30, a group of educators, business leaders, government officials and community leaders were taken on a bus tour of early childhood education facilities in Tulsa. The goal of the Child Watch Tour was to give participants a child's eye view of a variety of early childhood education programs. The tour began at Reed Head Start, a 3-Star facility (highest DHS ranking, and nationally accredited), continued to Patti Johnson Wilson YWCA, also 3-Star, NAEYC-accredited,

and ended with Loving Environment, a 2-Star program, working toward 3-Star accreditation.

The tour was organized by Dawn Parton, a TCC assistant professor, and supported by JumpStart Tulsa and the Junior League of Tulsa.

Following the bus tour were presentations by Anne Roberts, executive director of the Oklahoma Institute for Child Advocacy; Ruth Ann Ball, vice-president of NAEYC; and Libby Doggett, executive director of Pre-K Now!

Oklahoma is one of only two states providing free universal 4-year-old programs to parents who want it. Oklahoma also scored an 8 out of 10 on the National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER) Quality Standards Checklist. (To see standards visit NIEER.org).

What Did I Learn?

While Oklahoma is head and shoulders above other states in its commitment to early learning, quality can vary dramatically, even within the distance of a few miles.

But why should we care? One of the people on my bus was Deborah Shallcross, a juvenile court judge. She is passionate about the importance of high-quality early childhood education because, as she says, the kids who don't have it will end up in her court one day. Often, older children and adolescents who are in the court system had problems that can be traced to early life experiences. If children are not prepared for kindergarten during the first five years of their lives, then they enter school behind other children. Too many times, these children never catch up. As a result, they may become truancy problems in school and behavior problems in the community.

As I listened to Judge Shallcross and other professionals who work with children, I felt a sense of hope, but also of frustration. While we are making strides, we have a long way to go as a state and as a nation. Current scientific research shows us that the first few years of a child's life are critical learning years in terms of brain development and future success in life, yet we allow too many children to fend for themselves.

What does it take besides commitment and an willingness to collaborate? Money.

In an article entitled "Still Separate, Still Unequal: America's Educational Apartheid" by Jonathan Kozol in the September 2005 issue of Harper's magazine, Kozol writes, "The governmentally administered diminishment in value of the children of the poor begins even before the age of five or six, when they begin their years of formal education in the public schools. It starts during their infant and toddler years, when hundreds of thousands of children of the very poor in much of the

United States are locked out of the opportunity for preschool education for no reason but the accident of birth and budgetary choices of the government, while children of the privileged are often given veritable feasts of rich developmental early education."

Kozol goes on to discuss how children of wealthy citizens can attend "extraordinary early-education programs that give them social competence and rudimentary pedagogic skills unknown to children of the same age in poorer neighborhoods." He points out that children who have been exposed to high-quality early childhood education have a huge advantage over those children who have not had early childhood education when they are tested in 3rd grade. Who will perform better? Kids whose parents were able to give them rich, developmentally-appropriate preschool environments, or those who had nothing?

Kozol writes, "There is something deeply hypocritical about a society that holds an eight-year-old inner-city child [poor] 'accountable' for her performance on a high-stakes standardized exam but does not hold the high officials of our government accountable for robbing her of what they gave their own kids six or seven years earlier."

Let's look at the three centers I visited.

Reed Head Start. Reed is a Head Start facility, so it receives federal funds. One of the most striking things about Reed is the beauty of the facility and the professionalism of the staff. Reed serves about 186 children, but it has about 300 on a waiting list.

"We could use more centers like this," said Elizabeth Miranda, family support team leader at Reed.

Children at Reed are screened for vision, hearing and general health in order to identify problems early. Miranda says that families are referred to other social services if necessary.

"Reed is federally-funded," said Christi Roberts, child & youth development director at YWCA, but soon to become director at Reed. "When you have more money, you can pay your teachers more. You can have higher quality."

Roberts describes the layers of care that children in Tulsa experience. While Reed serves children living in poverty, it could be filled twice again based on the waiting list. Then there are children of the working poor who don't qualify for Head Start. When infant care costs $700 a month, those families are leaving their children wherever they can - with relatives, friends, neighbors and certainly not in licensed facilities. As Roberts puts it, "Parents are tapped out. If it affects

those of us not living in poverty, it affects those who do live in poverty ten-fold."

If you add it up, working parents are paying over $30,000 for care before their children reach kindergarten. Middle class, two-parent families may find it more cost-effective to have one parent stay home until children reach school-age, but according to labor statistics, that is not the reality for most people.

Patti Johnson Wilson YWCA. Our next stop was the Patti Johnson Wilson YWCA at 19th & Lewis, a facility, like Reed, that is child-friendly and developmentally appropriate with new equipment and a nice playground. Children were engaged with teachers and participating in an interactive

song and movement program when we arrived.

The YWCA collaborates with Tulsa Public Schools to house a 4-year-old program in addition to being a 3-Star facility for younger children. According to Penny Williams, former state representative and member of JumpStart Tulsa, the early childhood education legislation was written so that 4-year-old programs could be contracted out in this way since many public school buildings don't have classroom space to accommodate the extra students. The collaboration seems to work well. Children can remain on-site for before and after school care, solving one of the

problems of the 4-year-old programs - they aren't long enough for working parents. According to Jan Figart at the Child Care Resource Center, these young children may see three or four other caregivers throughout the day before a parent gets home from work.

Approximately 40 percent of the children at the YWCA are subsidized by DHS. Parents who don't qualify for subsidies pay $700 a month for infant care and slightly less for older children.

"It's always a challenge to raise money," said Robin Green, director of marketing and special events at the Patti Johnson Wilson YWCA. "We have to fundraise. Even with federal funding, it's challenging to provide quality care. And federal funding hasn't gone up for five years. I don't know what we would do without Tulsa Area United Way. Our needs locally are as high as they've ever been," adds Green. "And with heating, our facility costs are going to go up."

Loving Environment. Loving Environment is a DHS licensed 2-Star facility. It is 98 percent DHS subsidized. In accordance with NIEER guidelines to offer a nutritious breakfast or lunch, Loving Environment provides breakfast, lunch and an afternoon snack through a USDA food

program reimbursement.

As a 2-Star facility Loving Environment receives less federal subsidies than the other two centers and it shows. The building was clean and the children were happy and engaged, but the director was working with building facilities and equipment far below the quality of the other two centers.

"Maintaining a qualified staff is a challenge here," said Tori Rafferty, quality enhancement coordinator with Success by 6. "The center is licensed for 30, but TPS pulled 15 children out because of the 4-year-old program."

While Sherri Herndon, director of Loving Environment, wants to become a 3-Star facility, she can't pay qualified teachers on a 2-Star level, so she has her hands tied. And even though she has slots available, she doesn't receive the subsidy unless children are actually enrolled. Rafferty says that many children in the community are in unlicensed care, but Herndon doesn't have the funds for transporting these children any more than it does for paying teachers.

In Conclusion: Community Awareness, Support and Funding
Ruth Ann Ball, vice president of NAEYC, speaking at the close of the tour, said, "Quality environments for children are critical. Children learn about the world through play, and we need teachers who have an education to know what a quality environment is."

Ball also noted that early childhood educators need respect and high wages. "Teaching young children is a very demanding job," she said. "We're asking that our teachers know more, but they don't get more. We need to encourage professionalism. The children most at risk are at

schools with lower level trained teachers."

Libby Doggett, executive director of Pre-K Now!, was the final speaker at the event. The goal of Pre-K Now! is to create "a nation where every child enters kindergarten prepared to succeed."

As it is, wide disparities in quality and access exist in pre-K services within cities, within states and within the country.

Doggett complimented Oklahoma, saying "Oklahoma is a leader in early childhood. It is only one of five states that serve more than 30 percent of 4-year-olds. Eleven states have no pre-K programs."

Doggett said that the leaders in Oklahoma understand the economic and social importance of early education, and she uses Oklahoma as an example when she travels around the country.

She also pointed out the challenges. "Support services are necessary to help preschool programs succeed. A pay increase for teachers is important."

Doggett said that while teachers are being asked to increase their credentials, there is not money for it. Federal support for Head Start and child care has been stagnant.

Besides problems with funding, Doggett said that classroom experiences are not perfect. Research shows that bi-lingual classrooms need to be supported. "I don't see many bi-lingual teachers. If children don't know a word in their native language," she said, "how can we expect them to

know it in English? They have to know both."

Finally, Doggett said that even in some preschool situations that are regarded as high quality, the teacher ultimately makes the most difference. One study showed that 73 percent of the time, children had no teacher interaction, and 42 percent of the time, children were not engaged in meaningful activities at preschool. She stressed the importance of meaningful dialog between teachers and children, which emphasizes the need for small teacher/student ratios.

"What this study found was that in many early education programs, teachers needed to spend more time helping children learn new concepts and in providing useful feedback."

Doggett concluded by saying that the United States needs to work on making early education programs better. "And we can't do it on the cheap."

For more information, visit PreKNow.org, jumpstarttulsa.com and NIEER.org. For information on Head Start and Early Head Start (6 weeks - 3 years), call 585-3227. For information on finding licensed child care, call Child Care Resource Center at 834-2273 or visit www.ccrctulsa.org.

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Group's education tour is child's play
By KIM BROWN, World Staff Writer
10/1/2005

Participants of an early childhood education event spent Friday morning living vicariously though 3-, 4- and 5-year-olds.

The "Child's Play" Child Watch tour took early childhood education students, teachers, advocates and other business and government leaders on a tour of early childhood education facilities so they could see for themselves various environments and teaching styles.

Three buses took about 140 participants to three stops, each to tour various facilities and look at components of the National Institute for Early Education Research 10-point checklist.

Dawn Parton, the event's organizer and a Tulsa Community College assistant professor of Child Development, said the tour originally was designed to take a bus of TCC's early childhood education students on the tour, but the idea soon spread.

The tour was made possible from a $3,000 TCC Foundation grant, along with funding from JumpStart Tulsa and the Tulsa Child Care Resource Center. The Junior League of Tulsa, Tulsa Community College, the Community Action Project of Tulsa County/Tulsa Head Start, the YWCA of Tulsa and the Oklahoma Institute for Child Advocacy also were sponsors.

After the tour, participants heard from state and national early childhood education experts in an afternoon session at the Junior League of Tulsa office, 3633 S. Yale Ave.

Ruth Ann Ball, vice president of the National Association of the Education of Young Children, stressed that children need quality environments and teachers.

"Children need environments where there's play. That's how they learn about the world," Ball said. "They need teachers who have an education, who understand about the development of children, who understand what a quality environment is." But she also said that for teachers to continue to educate themselves, they deserve more respect and higher wages.

Keynote speaker Libby Doggett, executive director of Pre-K Now!, praised Oklahoma and its strides in early childhood education and said she often is complimentary to Oklahoma when she speaks on early childhood education in other states. Oklahoma is one of five states in the nation that serves more than 30 percent of 4-year-olds in prekindergarten programs, according to the National Institute for Early Education Research. In 2004, Oklahoma scored eight out of the group's 10 quality standards for the second year in a row.

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Full-day kindergartners increasing

By BEN FELLER, Associated Press

8/28/2005

Tulsa-area schools are among those joining a nationwide trend.

TAMPA, Fla. -- In her first year as a full-time student, Hannah Barrionuevo wrote a book about a dog searching for its mother and crafted a second one about a talented rabbit. "It's done," she said, thumbing through her latest work. "I just have to

publish it."

She's 6.

In Hillsborough County, Fla., kindergartners have long tackled weighty assignments during full-day classes, the kind of schedule that is being embraced by schools across the country.

Almost two in three kindergartners nationwide, or 65 percent of them, are in school five to six hours a day. That percentage of full-day students has doubled since the early 1980s.

Even a decade ago, most kindergartners went for a morning or an afternoon, not both.

In the Tulsa area, several districts have added full-day kindergarten.

Tulsa Public Schools just completed its two-year plan to fund full-day kindergarten throughout the district with the addition of programs at Barnard, Carnegie, Columbus, Eliot, Grimes, Hoover, Lanier, Lee, Park, Phillips, Salk and Sandburg elementary schools.

Jenks Public Schools introduced free full-day kindergarten districtwide when classes there began Thursday. Previously, Jenks charged parents tuition for full-day kindergarten.

The Broken Arrow and Sand Springs districts began free full-day kindergarten programs in the 2004-05 school year.

The academic demands of kindergarten have jumped, too, for this generation of students. As the entry point to public schools in the United States, kindergarten is increasingly seen not as a soft step into first grade, but rather as a time of substance and standards.

In Hannah's district, where kindergarten begins at age 5, the lessons cover reading, writing, math, science, history, geography, civics and economics. Hillsborough County moved to full-day kindergarten in 1980, years ahead of the norm, to help children read and write.

"The kids are ready," said Lisa Bellock, the district's kindergarten supervisor. "They really want to learn. They don't just want to be baby-sat."

Although early-education specialists acknowledge more research is needed on the long-term benefits and drawbacks of full-day kindergarten, existing studies show clear advantages.

An Education Department analysis found that children in full-day classes made greater gains in reading and math than half-day students, even after adjusting for such factors as poverty status and class size.

Full-day classes also devote more time to math, social studies and science and to specific skills, such as writing the alphabet, the study found.

At Heritage Elementary in Tampa, teacher Lotus Eckstein assigns her students to write stories and put them into bound "books" using a computer and some adult help. Another hands-on lesson lets students see which objects float in pond water, the kind of field trip that Eckstein, a 29-year-teacher, said "we simply didn't have time for in a half-day program."

The move toward longer kindergarten days comes partly in response to the need for more instructional time. Schools today face federal pressure to show yearly gains in reading and math starting with third-graders, who in turn need more preparation at earlier ages.

Inner-city and rural areas have the most full-day kindergarten, driven in part by federal poverty aid, which eases pressure on working parents who aren't home to watch their kids.

The steady growth is particularly notable in the South, where 83 percent of kindergartners go to class full time, far more than in other parts of the country.

Over two decades, the number of states requiring school districts to offer full-day kindergarten has grown from one to nine. A 10th state, New Jersey, requires some districts to offer it. Elsewhere in the country, local districts decide what to offer, according to an analysis by the Education Commission of the States, a nonprofit that tracks policy trends.

When school began in Tampa last year, Moira Kelley knew her son Landon was ready for a full day with no nap time at age 5. He practiced his emerging vocabulary at home, surprising his mom by using "recuperate" to describe how his play soldier was dealing with injuries.

As for the demands of the schedule on young children, another parent, Paul Jackson, said, "It's called full-day, but school is over at 2 p.m." He said his son Ben, who recently finished kindergarten at Heritage, has no problem blowing off steam during playtime.

Longer kindergarten programs, in fact, tend to allow more recess and other opportunities for kids to be little kids, said Kristie Kauerz, the author of the ECS report.

Reducing the complications for parents of arranging child care was a factor in Hillsborough County's decision to launch full-day classes 25 years ago. But helping kids form earlier skills was the main reason full-day kindergarten won broad political and financial support.

Today's push for longer classes has its problems, though, according to the ECS analysis. It found most states lack policies that define what full-day kindergarten is, how to pay for it, how to provide it for all children and how to ensure that it has high standards. "There is a strong trend toward expanding access, which is terrific," Kauerz said. "But if we want the best outcomes for young children, we need to make sure there are safeguards."

In the classroom in Tampa, teachers keep each lesson to about 15 minutes, understanding that kindergartners work better by staying active and moving among learning stations.

The math lesson? Counting blocks and measuring the size of red, orange and yellow fish. The English lesson? Writing stories about special moments, like making breakfast with mom.

By 12:30 p.m. one day last spring, when students in half-day programs would be heading home, Eckstein's students were engrossed in story time and a lesson about parts of the body. And when students finished their day at 1:50 p.m., it was hard to find a tired face.

"They're all ready for it," said parent Babette Doutt-Nesmith, as her son, Morgan, and his classmates grabbed their backpacks after another full day. "And they love it."

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Childhood ed program gets boost

By GINNIE GRAHAM World Staff Writer

7/26/2005

With more than $10 million secured from private philanthropists,

groundbreaking for the Educare early childhood center is set for Sept.

27 adjacent to the Kendall-Whittier Elementary School, 2601 E. Fifth

Place.

The Educare program is a partnership between the private and public

sectors to provide quality education for the youngest and poorest in the

city.

Tulsa banker and oilman George Kaiser led the fundraising for the

program after he spent years researching the most effective investment

for eliminating poverty.

Unique aspects of the program include expanded services for parents,

higher levels of teacher training and education, smaller classroom

ratios and increased focus on infant and toddler education.

Expanded parent services include on-site medical care, parenting courses

and opportunities to continue with job training or seeking education.

Eligible children will be those with working parents in the lowest

economic levels.

"When we visit with people, they grasp pretty quickly that this is not

an issue of government intrusion into the upbringing of children,"

Kaiser said. "Rather, this is a voluntary program for a select group who

are obliged to work out of the home.

"Most likely, their kids are already in day care of a kind that does not

provide the sensory stimulation that is critical to preparing those

children for school.

"Without an intensive day-care education program like Educare, there is

a good chance they will lag behind, drop out of school, become dependent

upon welfare or end up in jail. We need to provide them with the equal

opportunity that America promises each newborn."

About $10.7 million has been pledged by 14 individuals, private

foundations and companies to build the center. The capital budget

includes an endowment for expenses such as building maintenance and

unknown shortfalls in government funding.

Among the private donors is the Oklahoma City-based Inasmuch Foundation,

which pledged $1 million. The foundation was created by Edith Gaylord in

1982. Upon Gaylord's death in 2001, the foundation inherited assets

worth about $365 million and gives out between $15 million and $17

million each year.

Bob Ross, president and CEO of the Inasmuch Foundation, said the

donation is among the foundation's largest.

"Early childhood education is not just a Tulsa or Oklahoma City issue,"

Ross said. "We are doing great things in this arena statewide, but we

can do a lot more. The concept of early childhood education is very

important.

"We invest money in kindergarten through 12th grade and in higher

education. But if we don't have the early childhood component, the

education system will be severely impacted in a negative way."

Educare comes from the Chicago-based Ounce of Prevention Fund and

promotes the best practices in early childhood learning. Private money

builds the center; public money is combined for operating expenses, and

a local, independent board will oversee management.

Public money will include child-care subsidies from the state Department

of Human Services, a food program grant from the U.S. Department of

Agriculture and the Early Head Start grant administered by the Community

Action Project of Tulsa County.

Ross said the foundation was particularly impressed with the parental

involvement requirement and the broad base of private support. He said

the best practices will be spread to other cities in Oklahoma even if

those cities cannot afford to build an exact replica of the center.

"We want the leaders across the state to know this is a very important

issue to us, and we are willing to go outside Oklahoma City to

accomplish our goals," Ross said.

The founding donors are the George Kaiser Family Foundation with a $2

million grant and the Irving Harris and Buffett Family Foundations with

a donation of $1 million.

Educare is expected to open in the fall of 2006.

In planning for the construction of the center, agreements were made

with Tulsa Public Schools and the city parks department to use land

adjacent to the Kendall-Whittier school. The Tulsa school board approved

in June a lease of $10 for 99 years with the Tulsa Educare, Inc.

The George Kaiser Family Foundation through the Tulsa Community

Foundation will give $500,000 to the parks department for new land.

An additional $500,000 from the family foundation will be placed in an

account at the Tulsa Community Foundation to be spent toward social

services and neighborhood improvements. A community board will help in

that effort.

Currently, Tulsa County has 104 slots for the Early Head Start program,

which serves infants through 3-year-olds. The latest census and economic

data show that about 17,000 children from infants to 5-year-olds meet

the federal poverty level.

Educare will offer 200 slots to low-income children, with at least a

third going to infants and toddlers.

An effort to expand the number of slots available to the youngest

children at Educare and Early Head Start is being encouraged through

private sponsorships. The George Kaiser Family Foundation will match the

money given to provide additional slots.

All-day kindergarten bill advances

By BARBARA HOBEROCK, World Capitol Bureau

5/24/2005

School districts would have until 2011 to implement the plan, and many growing suburban districts would be exempt.

OKLAHOMA CITY -- School districts would have until 2011 to implement an all-day kindergarten plan that gained final legislative approval Monday.

Some districts, including many growing suburban districts, would be exempt from the requirement.

Districts that already are bonded to 85 percent of capacity are expected to be exempt from offering all-day kindergarten, said Lealon Taylor, chief of staff for state Superintendent Sandy Garrett.

"Most of the suburban and urban districts are fully bonded," Garrett said. "They can share facilities with other agencies as long as they send a certified teacher paid for by the school."

According to information provided by the state Education Department, districts that already are bonded to at least 85 percent include Sand Springs, Broken Arrow, Jenks, Union and Glenpool.

Districts that have passed bond issues and can't raise any more money locally to build buildings to house the extra students are bonded to capacity, Taylor said.

Districts can pass bonds for as much as 10 percent of their local property valuation, said Shawn Hime, assistant state superintendent of finance. "Their bonded capacity is equal to 10 percent of the local valuation," Hime said.

Districts that are bonded to at least 85 percent of their capacity are already exempt from penalties for exceeding state class-size limits, Taylor said.

The agreement calls for $21.6 million to be available for schools that offer all-day kindergarten in 2006, he said. The $21.6 million is expected to more than cover the cost, he said. The money is an incentive for schools that offer full-day kindergarten, Taylor said.

"There is no mandate for parents to send their children to full-day kindergarten," he said.

Some districts already offer all-day kindergarten.

The House and Senate have passed House Bill 1020, a $2.15 billion budget for public schools, including the $21.6 million for all-day kindergarten. The bill now goes to Gov. Brad Henry, who proposed the idea.

"The legislation provides an increase of more than $145 million per year to boost teacher pay and benefits, and it will also help schools struggling with increasing operational expenses," said Rep. Tad Jones, R-Claremore, who leads the House budget subcommittee on education. The increase includes $57.7 million for teacher pay raises, $32.8 million to provide full state funding for educators' health insurance and $9.9 million for support employees' health insurance.

The bill would provide an average pay raise of $1,000 per year to Oklahoma teachers, Jones said.

The bill contains key parts of Henry's initiative, such as a teacher pay raise and all-day kindergarten, said Paul Sund, a spokesman for the governor. "Gov. Henry is looking forward to signing the legislation into law," Sund said.

The $2.15 billion school budget is the largest in sate history, according to Jones. Previously, the most money appropriated to public schools was $2.04 billion in the 2002 legislative session, he said.

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Pre-K Now

Announcement on the Early Childhood ListServ, May 19, 2005

Pre-K Now was created by The Pew Charitable Trusts and was formerly a part of The Trust for Early Education. It is now overseen by the Institute for Educational Leadership and is dedicated to:

* supporting state-based children's advocates;

* positively impacting state and federal legislation; and

* raising public awareness about the need for pre-kindergarten for all children.

Please visit the web site at: http://www.preknow.org

You may wish to consider joining the fairly new e-mail newsclips service, which delivers information about pre-K events and information from around the country. Oklahoma information is only rarely included in the service, but the service does allow you to learn of news releases of interest and strategies in use in other states.

ABOUT THIS LISTSERV:

The message above was posted to the Early Childhood Work Group listserv, which is a moderated forum. The Early Childhood Work Group is a child advocacy group that exists to support the early childhood legislative agenda of the Oklahoma Institute for Child Advocacy. This listserv has been created to allow open communication between individuals across Oklahoma who are interested in supporting early childhood advocacy efforts of all types. This forum is also used to share items of interest to the early childhood professional community across Oklahoma.
Your postings are welcome. To post your own message to the list, send a new email to:

Earlychildhoodworkgroup@topica.com
To read archives of past postings, visit:

http://www.topica.com/lists/Earlychildhoodworkgroup
This listserv is maintained by Dawn Parton. Please call 918-595-8039 or email dparton@tulsacc.edu if you have questions or comments about the listserv.

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Expulsions in pre-K alarming
By GINNIE GRAHAM, World Staff Writer
5/18/2005

Children in prekindergarten programs have an expulsion rate triple that of kindergartners through high school students, a recent report shows.

Oklahoma education officials say they are not aware of an expulsion problem in the state's programs for 4-year-olds, said Ramona Paul, assistant state superintendent responsible for overseeing the publicly funded program for 4-year-olds.

"We haven't had anyone talk to us about this, and we're very puzzled," Paul said. "This is the first time it has ever been brought up. I'm flabbergasted. To my knowledge, I don't know of any 4-year-olds being expelled. I'm stunned."

Advocates for early childhood education say the report shows a need to give teachers more support in dealing with disruptive children.

Libby Doggett, executive director of PreK-Now, a national group advocating for quality early childhood programs for all children, called the report "disturbing."

"I am totally surprised and am still trying to figure out what is happening," Doggett said. "We do have some great programs out there, and some have been around longer than others. Oklahoma has a very good prekindergarten system, and even their rate is pretty high. We are looking forward to future analysis."

The policy report, "Prekindergarteners Left Behind," released Tuesday by the Foundation for Child Development, shows that expulsion rates differ among classroom settings.

Classrooms located in public schools and Head Start have the lowest expulsion rates, while the for-profit child-care facilities and faith-affiliated centers have the highest rates.

Four-year-olds were expelled at a rate about 50 percent greater than 3-year-olds. Boys were expelled at a rate more than 4.5 times that of girls.

Black students attending state-funded programs were nearly twice as likely to be expelled as Hispanic and white children and more than five times as likely to be expelled as Asian children.

Oklahoma has received national attention for its public 4-year-old program offered in school districts. About 70 percent of the state's 4-year-olds attend a public program.

Paul said teachers in the 4-year-old program must have a bachelor's degree in early childhood education, and they have the resources of the school.

"It does make a difference when you have a more educated teacher because you have someone who knows how to better handle behavior problems that may come up," Paul said.

The report says about 10 percent of Oklahoma's teachers reported expelling at least one prekindergarten student during the past year, for a rate of 6.1 children per 1,000 students.

The state's expulsion rate for kindergarten through 12th grade is 2.1 per 1,000 students.

Nationally, 10.4 percent of teachers expelled a prekindergarten student, for a rate of 6.7 per 1,000 children, the report states.

Oklahoma ranks 22nd in expulsion rates among the 40 states that fund prekindergarten programs, according to the report.

Breaking down the Oklahoma statistics, the state's program for 4-year-olds in school districts reported an expulsion rate of 8.2 children per 1,000, while the state-funded Head Start programs have an expulsion rate of 1.5 children per 1,000.

The Tulsa Head Start program has a policy of not expelling students, according to Steven Dow, executive director of the Community Action Project of Tulsa County, which administers the grant.

Dow said the report confirms past research showing the need for quality early education and intervention for disruptive issues.

"Waiting until 4 is too late," he said. "We are seeing a number of kids coming to school with behavioral problems that are already manifesting at age 4.

"Kicking kids out is not a viable solution because at some point they will move back into the classroom," Dow said. "If the behavior is not corrected early, the problem is being passed on to someone else down the line."

Walter S. Gilliam, author of the report and a child psychologist at the Yale University Child Study Center, said decades of research indicate that a quality early childhood program can improve a child's readiness and performance in school.

"No one wants to think about kids this young being kicked out of school," Gilliam said. "When we fail to provide supportive placement for child and family, it places them in a very difficult situation."

Recommendations to improve the expulsion rate in state-funded programs include:

Prohibit expulsion among pre-kindergarten children.

Develop clear policies regarding support for prekindergarten children with behavior problems. Support could include providing individual aides for children or offering alternative programs with smaller groups.

Require teachers to receive regular and in-service training to address children's behavioral problems.

Ensure that all children receive the same level and quality of support services regardless of classroom setting.

Have early intervention approaches to help vulnerable children transition better to the pre-kindergarten classroom.

Full report: www.fcd-us.org.

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Early child education is key, study says

By GINNIE GRAHAM World Staff Writer

4/19/2005

The report says taxpayers avoid higher future costs by investing in

children now.

A study released Monday asks questions about how to better fund a public

early childhood education system and outlines the economic benefits of

providing such programs.

"Just as we invest in highways because it is essential to economic

growth, so too do we need to invest in early care and education," said

Leslie Calman, the senior vice president of Legal Momentum and director

of Family Initiative. "Quality early childhood programs have a higher

return than buildings and sports stadiums."

The report sprouts from a 2004 conference, sponsored by Legal Momentum

and the MIT Workplace Center at the Sloan School of Management, that

brought together about 80 scholars, experts, government officials and

activists.

The group examined research about early childhood education and

determined how to effectively present the information. Other sponsors of

the report are The National Economic Development and Law Center, The

Early Care and Education Collaborative and The Center for Policy

Alternatives.

As an industry, early education employs about 900,000 people nationally

as licensed child care providers and teachers, and an additional 2

million oversee children as a family member, friend or neighbor. In

2002, more than $43 billion was produced in direct revenue from child

care.

At least one-third of those workers do not have health insurance, and

the average national pay is about $17,000, according to U.S. Rep. Rosa

DeLauro, D-Conn.

The study did not include a state-by-state analysis, but it cited

figures from a few states outlining the impact of the industry. For

example, in Massachusetts, the industry employs more people than do

telecommunications, computer manufacturing and pharmaceuticals. In New

York, it employs more than do hotels, air transportation and public

transportation. In North Carolina, it produces more gross receipts than

does wholesale leaf tobacco.

"When it comes to our economy, child care is big business," DeLauro

said. "Our country does not have long-term strategy for quality child

care education. We have failed to make it a priority. This is about

values. Budgets are moral documents, and government does have a moral

responsibility in this regard."

The report uses several studies for analysis. The purpose of early

education is to have children ready to enter school at or above their

grade.

Based on research, if a child starts out behind in school, the child

stays behind.

The report says that a child who receives a quality early education will

need fewer special education classes, is more likely to graduate and

hold a job, is less likely to be on welfare and is significantly less

likely to be in the criminal justice system.

Every dollar invested in early education programs saves taxpayers up to

$13 in future costs, the report states.

Oklahoma has received national attention for offering full-day

kindergarten and adding programs for 4-year-olds in public school

districts. The report cites Oklahoma's effort in the research showing

the academic and long-term career benefits to children.

"The early investment in their skills grows and is a cost-effective

economic investment," the report states.

A high percentage of children living in poverty never finish school, but

Calman points out that most children who drop out and fail in school

come from families whose incomes are above the poverty line.

"The greatest savings will come by making quality early education and

care available to every child whose family chooses it," Calman said. "It

is not just investing in at-risk children, but middle-class kids also

drop out of school."

Recommendations of the study include:

* Congress should ask for a definitive analysis of current research by

the General Accounting Office.

* New financing mechanisms must be developed and include public, private

and philanthropic dollars.

* Broad public education is needed so policy-makers and citizens can

frame the issue of early education as an important investment.

* The education and compensation for early child care providers should

be improved. This would be the priority in the new funding system.

Full report: www.familyinitiative.org

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Full-day kindergarten gets boost and boot

By TOM DROEGE World Staff Writer

4/14/2005

Raising the grades of Oklahoma's public school students begins as early

as kindergarten, Gov. Brad Henry said Wednesday in a speech promoting

full-day kindergarten.

"Those are the most formative years," Henry said at the downtown Tulsa

Rotary Club. "That's when the brain is being hard-wired."

The state Senate has passed a bill to fund full-day kindergarten, but it

faces resistance in the House, Henry said. The measure is being blamed

for stalling an education budget that includes a pay raise for teachers.

"Both sides have drawn a line in the sand," Henry said. "There is some

political muscle-flexing going on."

Meanwhile, it appeared at the Capitol that the situation might be moving

toward a resolution.

Senate Republican Leader Glenn Coffee of Oklahoma City had said Tuesday

that his GOP caucus would be more amenable to a school budget that does

not mandate full-day kindergarten.

Coffee said that issue could be discussed separately later.

Senate President Pro Tem Mike Morgan, D-Stillwater, said Wednesday that

that might be possible.

"There's no question that full-day kindergarten has been a sticking

point in our negotiations,"

Morgan said. "I would say at this point our position is that we are

willing to compromise on virtually any portion of the budget, if it

makes sense for the greater good."

Morgan said he favors appropriately funded full-day kindergarten. He

said some districts offer full-day kindergarten without state funding.

"If it's the will of the Legislature and the members on both sides that

that needs to come out of the negotiations or come out of the budget,

then I'd be open to that," he said.

Coffee called Morgan's potential concession welcome news.

"If we're all talking about the same number less all-day kindergarten,

then we ought to be sitting down, because that sounds like pretty close

to a deal to me," he said.

The $24.6 million proposal for mandatory statewide, full-day

kindergarten says parents will have the choice to send their children to

a full-day or half-day program. Henry has suggested a three-year

phase-in for schools.

Statistics show that parents want full-day kindergarten and that such

early education practices prepare students for long-term scholastic

achievement, even in college, Henry said.

"I believe this is one of the most important pieces of legislation still

pending," he said. "We have to make sure we get the most bang for our

education buck."

Henry said he tried both half-day and full-day kindergarten with his

children, and he thinks all parents with children in the state's public

schools should have the same choice.

"I've seen first-hand the benefit of making full-day kindergarten

available," he said. "Parents should have the option."

Tulsa Public Schools began funding full-day kindergarten on its own this

year, providing the program in about 45 of its 57 elementary schools.

Henry said full-day kindergarten was the first stepping stone on a path

of education that in the end will improve Oklahoma's economic vitality.

"If you want to lift the per capita income, then let's produce more

college graduates," he said.

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Educare plants seed for change

By GINNIE GRAHAM World Staff Writer

4/2/2005

A new center for early childhood education seeks a fresh start for

children.

The Educare program will transfer the best teaching methods to other

existing programs and initiate debate about the public and private

sector roles in funding early childhood education, according to a panel

at the Education Forum Series hosted by the Tulsa Metro Chamber.

Educare is an education program providing college-educated teachers for

low-income infants though 5-year-olds, parent self-sufficiency

components and medical services.

Tulsa banker and oilman George Kaiser led the creation of the program

and construction of a center in Tulsa after spending years researching

programs for the most effective tool to stem poverty. It is expected to

open in the fall of 2006.

Private-sector donations will build the center near Kendall-Whittier

Elementary School, 2601 E. Fifth Place, and a blend of public funding

will cover operating expenses. An independent board will oversee its

management.

"By building this site that is state of the art, it says to the

community that children matter, early childhood education is education

and not baby-sitting, and is the most important way to intervene in the

cycle of poverty," said Annie Koppel Van Hanken, co-director of grant

facilitation at the Tulsa Community Foundation.

In addition to Van Hanken, panelists included Community Action Project

of Tulsa County Executive Director Steven Dow and University of

Oklahoma-Tulsa President Ken Levit. The forum was held Thursday.

The OU role will be to provide medical services at a clinic in the

center and train teachers for careers in early education. Other

universities, including Oklahoma State University and Langston

University, also offer education in early childhood.

In response to a question from OSU-Tulsa President Gary Trennepohl about

teacher training and recruitment programs, Levit said universities and

colleges need to collaborate and share resources.

"I take the question as an invitation to gather higher