Zais on Early Childhood Education (Part 2)

REGGIE'S QUESTION ASKED TO MICK ZAIS:

Dr. Zais,

The educational expectations for grade-school students continue to rise almost every year or every few years. These increased thresholds have a tendency to cause school districts to push down academic standards into the younger grades (like pre-kindergarten). Much research has shown that "hurrying" the child academically like that is not developmentally appropriate for them and does not most consistently ensure later school success for all types of children.

If elected as SC Superintendent of Education, what is your plan to increase the level of developmentally appropriate instruction and curriculum implementation in pre kindergarten and Kindergarten to ensure that students are being held only to goals and experiences that are suited to their learning and development and challenging enough to promote their progress and interest?

Dear Dr. Williams,

Thank you for contacting me and your wishes
for my success in my campaign for State Superintendent of Education. I
apologize
for not responding sooner; my campaign schedule and family
schedule have been
very full, so I haven’t had a good opportunity to pen a
thoughtful
response.

In regards to your question: I
think it is
critical that every child receive instruction that is both
developmentally and
academically appropriate for them. This is
especially true for preschool
children. You have rightly pointed
out that sooner isn’t always
better for children. I have spoken
repeatedly about how setting up a
system that all children enter at the same
time and are expected to exit at the
same time is unrealistic and
detrimental to our students. Students grow
and mature at varying
rates. Artificially holding some students back and
hurrying others is
bad for the students and bad for our
state.

Mandating a
statewide full-day kindergarten program
for all four year olds would
exacerbate a problem you are already observing.
Any statewide
education program will be pushed to have statewide, academic
standards based
assessment. The majority of a young child’s day should not
be driven
by the institutional testing goals of the K-12 system. Children
need a
sense of security and self at these youngest ages. These are
developed
in relationships, not institutions, in my opinion.

At the
same
time, and has been noted by the courts, that some students come into their
formal school years with significant cognitive development deficits that can
be
linked to a lack of exposure to language, print, time concepts and number
concepts. Frequently, these children also lack consistent nutrition
and
health care. Our state developed First Steps in order to
holistically
address these needs of pre-kindergarten children. Local
boards assess the
local needs and resources and then develop plans to meet
the needs of the
communities they serve. In my opinion, this is the
appropriate way to
manage meeting the needs of our youngest children who are
not receiving basic
needs.

I support the current
structure of separation between
pre-K and k-12 standards and
oversight. K-12 should not have mission
creep that extends its
master plan from the cradle through
college.

Thank you for
writing and for all you do for the children
under your
care.

Sincerely,

Mick Zais

So what do you think?