Rising in the ranks: Tennessee in top 8 with Pre-K program

From The Daily News Journal

By Tosheena Robinson-Blair

April 1, 2007 - "I'm a little bunny, my name is Joe. I hop fast and I hop slow. Whenever I'm sleepy my ears droop low, but after my nap, up they go," sang 20 Walter Hill Elementary pre-kindergarten students Tuesday.

By the end of the little ditty — sung to the tune of "I'm a Little Teapot" — groggy eyes, which were a minute before heavy with sleep, spring back to life.

For these students, a part of Gov. Phil Bredesen's statewide Pre-K program, school is not just fun and games.

Naturally, there's singing, dancing and painting too.

According to Pre-K teacher Mary Powers, whether her children are participating in circle time activities, singing songs or scribbling and drawing, they are constantly learning and with that education, they are "well-equipped" for kindergarten and first grade.

"They grow by leaps and bounds. Two this year didn't talk in class at all. Within a month for one and two months for the other, they are now telling me stories," she said.

"A lot of people say you're baby-sitting, but when I check up on our old students, their teachers say they can tell the difference between those who attended Pre-K and those who didn't."

Tennessee , never known for ranking high in matters of education, was recently included in the top eight states in the nation for the quality of its Pre-K program. The ranking seems to back-up Powers' assertion.

In a recently released report, the state met nine of 10 national standards defined by the National Institute for Early Education Research in its 2006 State Preschool Yearbook, which evaluates state-funded preschool programs during the 2005-06 school year.

"Pre-K education is an excellent investment in the future of our state," said Bredesen. "Tennessee's program requirements demand the highest quality classrooms, which pay off for our children's education. Every community in our state has students and families who benefit from the preparation and resources that a year of Pre-K classes provides."

Not only has Tennessee defied a national trend of shrinking per-pupil resources for early childhood education, the state was commended by the report for surging ahead of 10 states in the number of students who are served by the pre-K program.

This school year, Tennessee has 677 state-funded Pre-K classrooms operating in 88 counties.

According to the Rutherford County Schools spokesman, James Evans, his system has three types of pre-K programs — two federally funded pre-K's for special education and Title I (disadvantaged) students and those funded by the governor's program.

In all, Rutherford County has 19 pre-K classes in their schools.

Murfreesboro City Schools spokesman Cheryl Harris boasts of her system being "leaders in the preschool field."

"It dates back to Ruth Bowdoin and her "Classroom on Wheels" school bus that was decorated and she would travel to neighborhoods where there were concentrations of at-risk students and provide preschool opportunities for them that they would not otherwise have available. This was in the 1970s," Harris said.

City schools received five lottery-funded preschools in the 2005-06 school year and four in the 2006-07 school year.

Sheryl Schmidt's Pre-K class at Northfield Elementary was one of the pilot classes for the governor's program.

"A Pre-K class gives particularly the at risk child the opportunity to be exposed to a positive school environment. The opportunity for literacy and language growth, for social and emotional development to be ready for kindergarten," said the 23-year veteran educator, who has taught Pre-K for the last eight of those years.

"We see so much growth, particularly in their social skills. They are able to negotiate, share, get along with others, to be independent and separate from their parents and exhibit a willingness to try new things, even when they are hard," she said.

"We see their attention skills grow they are able to participate and listen for longer periods of time, and we see growth in academic areas as well."

View this story on The Daily News Journal Web site.

Visit The Daily News Journal home page.