Momentum - Business to Business Online Magazine MOMENTUM November 2018 | Page 29

Non-Profit of the Month
The Importance of Early
Childhood Education
By: Ginger Kieckbusch
Dean of Early Childhood & Elementary Education
Odyssey Academy
The importance of early childhood education has recently
become a very hot topic. Researchers and government officials
alike often speak on the subject and address the lack of quality
early childhood programs available to families with preschool-
aged children. While the country is beginning to realize the
long-term economic benefits of educating the very young, initial
research completed by The Galveston Sustainable Communities
Alliance shows that Galveston falls short in providing an
adequate number of high quality early education programs to
effectively serve its community. Currently, the state of Texas
funds a half-day prekindergarten program for 3- and 4-year-old
students who are either economically disadvantaged, second
language learners, homeless, in foster care, or have parents in
the military. This program provides the equivalent of three hours
of instruction per day. Considering the impact early childhood
instruction has on preparing children to be successful in school
and the community, it is disappointing to learn that more is not
being done through legislation to provide funding for additional
high-quality, full-day early childhood opportunities for all
children across the state of Texas.
Early childhood educators recognize that preschool children
benefit most from a full-day prekindergarten program. Many
public schools rely on district funds, outside grants, and
partnerships with local Head Start Programs to provide full-day
prekindergarten for their students. The Moody Permanent
Endowment Fund is one non-profit that understands how early
childhood education is essential and supports the proactive
approach of teaching our youngest children. Early childhood
educators also recognize the importance of all children being
kindergarten ready. This means no matter a child’s preschool
experience, each child should enter kindergarten having
received the same foundation of quality instruction and
developmentally appropriate opportunities.
In response to local earlier research findings, several
organizations around Galveston County have stepped up to
provide collaborative early childhood training. Smart Family
Literacy is an organization that not only puts free books into the
hands of children, they also work with families, daycare centers,
and public and private schools to increase literacy through
workshops, gardening projects, and community events.
Smart Family Literacy also partners with early childhood
presenters from Alvin Community College, Moody Methodist
Day School, Odyssey Academy, and Galveston ISD to provide
affordable training for daycare and preschool teachers through
Early Childhood Educator’s Workshops. The Moody Foundation
has also provided funds to ensure that all early childhood
providers have access to consistent, quality training for
instruction. Through this grant, Moody Early Childhood Center
has enlisted help from Lakeshore Learning, The Collaborative
for Children, and the Children’s Learning Institute to provide
trainings for teachers of children, birth through 4-years-old. In
most cases, the grant pays stipends to teachers who attend
these training sessions. At the state level, the Children’s
Learning Institute at The University of Texas Health Science
Center at Houston provides free, researched based resources
for parents, teachers, and childcare centers through their CLI
Engage platform at www.cliengage.org.
Research shows that children who have not acquired adequate
reading proficiency skills by the end of 3rd grade have a
greater chance of dropping out of high school placing them at-
risk. By 4th grade, students are no longer learning to read, but
reading to learn. A child who is not proficient in reading will be
unable to comprehend much of the curriculum taught that year.
However, research shows that quality early childhood programs
provide the opportunity for children to develop a strong
foundation for pre-reading and school readiness skills which
also has a significant impact on graduation rates. In order to
provide a rich learning environment for young children,
collaboration among early childhood educators and programs
is key. With the support of community leaders and legislators,
our county could excel at providing high-quality early
childhood education programs for our youngest children in
order to increase their language and literacy skills and ensure
that each one of them is school-ready when entering
kindergarten.
MOMENTUM / November 2018
28