Virginia first lady Pamela Northam visits a classroom at Greenbrier Elementary School in Charlottesville during her “back to school” tour last fall. (Photo by Jack Mayer courtesy Office of the Governor)
Generations of Americans were raised with the idea that learning begins at kindergarten, but Virginia is heeding decades of research that points to a smarter education model: Earlier is better.
And under the direction of the state’s first lady, Pamela Northam, Virginia is taking steps to bolster early childhood education through initiatives that focus on children from birth to 5 years old.
“We have such good data coming out now that shows us that the child’s brain is pretty much developed by the time that they reach kindergarten, Northam says. “So, the opportunities they have or do not have in those early years are critical to whether they enter kindergarten ready or not.”
Pre-kindergarten education refers to federally funded or state-supported programs that serve 3- or 4-year-olds in a variety of settings. The state’s pre-K program — the Virginia Preschool Initiative, or VPI — was launched in 1995 and serves children throughout most of its 132 school districts, including those in the Richmond area. Students are enrolled on the basis of need determined by household income and participation in other supplemental programs, such as free or reduced school lunches. A federally funded expansion, known as VPI-Plus, has been in effect since 2015 to reach a larger group of 4-year-olds in 11 districts that ranked the highest in need.
According to 2017 statistics from the National Institute of Early Education Research, the commonwealth falls below national averages in some pre-K education measures. Notably, Virginia ranks near the bottom of states with regard to the percentage of 3-year-olds enrolled in state-funded early education programs and the federal Head Start; the state also lagged behind most states in the amount spent per child. About 18 percent of Virginia’s 4-year-olds are enrolled in VPI, according to the institute. Statewide, 18,356 children are enrolled in VPI and 1,422 in VPI-Plus, with 12,670 in Head Start and 2,452 in Early Head Start, according to the state Department of Education.
Addressing the room for improvement, the Northam administration set out to implement a more robust, unified and sustainable pre-K system. In June 2018, Pamela Northam announced the launch of a statewide effort that begins classroom instruction for children as early as 3 years old and addresses the overall well-being and early learning life of children from birth to 5 years old. What it means in practical terms is a changing mindset. Day-care and preschool settings will be regarded as classrooms, and the providers will be considered teachers, not merely babysitters.
“As it is right now, kindergarteners are coming in at all different levels,” says Katie Euting, a kindergarten teacher at Richmond’s Linwood Holton Elementary School. “Some students come in knowing all of their letters and letter sounds and able to write and read words. Others come in not knowing what a letter is or how to write their name.”
Northam, a former high school biology teacher, also reconvened the Children’s Cabinet — a subset of officials in her husband’s administration that had been established under former Gov. Terry McAuliffe. The first lady chairs the panel, whose focus is to prioritize issues such as early childhood development and school readiness, nutrition and systems of care and safety for school-age youth. In addition, she announced the creation of a chief school readiness officer position. Jenna Conway took on that role in June 2018 after six years of running a similar effort in Louisiana.
Jenna Conway’s daughter, Winx, holds the pen Gov. Ralph Northam used to sign the order reestablishing the Children’s Cabinet. (Photo by Jack Mayer courtesy Office of the Governor)
In January, Pamela Northam announced that Virginia had received a one-year, $10 million grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Administration for Children and Families. The money will support initiatives that bolster Virginia’s early childhood system, such as producing a statewide needs assessment and strategic plan, aligning early learning standards and developing kindergarten-readiness tools for teachers and families. The grant funding will be used for pilot programs at 10 “early adopter” communities throughout the state and will award innovative teachers who demonstrate best practices in the classroom.
A press statement from Gov. Ralph Northam’s office noted that “this funding will allow Virginia to evaluate 1,000 publicly funded infant, toddler and pre-K classrooms, to better understand the quality landscape. ... Furthermore, the communities will conduct focus groups and surveys to gather insights from the families of Virginia’s youngest learners.”
What might a preschool classroom look like in the future? Conway explains: “It would be very clear that there were intentional learning activities happening no matter where you went.” She says teachers would be making sure the young students are fully, deeply engaged, “not just sitting in a circle with their hands in their laps.”
With a student-teacher ratio of 9 to 1, ideally, a classroom would have children working at different stations, such as a dress-up center or an arts workshop.
While it might look like play to an outsider, she says, “you’d actually hear and see that teacher promoting the development of a particular skill, like math or literacy.”
As the efforts progress, Northam says, “Our K-12 educators will see the result. They inherit what’s happening in those early childhood years.”