8 minute read
Expanding Options for Early Learning Teacher of the Year Kendra Yamamoto, and her mission to make preschool more accessible
EXPANDING PTIONS FOR
EAR L Y L e ArNInG
By Julia Antopol Hirsch
Preschool for all Preschool for all is the mission of Kendra Yamamoto, preschool teacher and 2017 Teacher of the Year for Educational Service District (ESD) 112 in Vancouver. She teaches at the only district-funded general education preschool for Vancouver Public Schools (VPS) and her dream is to extend preschool to all.
Most parents and teens today will remember kindergarten as a half-day program focused on play and socialization, more like what a typical preschool is like. Students were not introduced to basic reading and arithmetic until the first grade. Those same skills are now being taught on day one in kindergarten classes across the country. To track progress, the newly 5-year-old students are included in statemandated testing at different points in the school year.
The shift to a full-time, more academically focused kindergarten curriculum occurred in Washington State six years ago. A state study showed that only 53.1% of students at kindergarten age met all the physical, emotional and academic standards for kindergarten readiness upon entering school. Low-income students fared worse,
at 38.7%. Additionally, the financial burden for working parents having to pick up a child in the middle of the day inspired the state to expand kindergarten classes to a full school day.
While the needs for families and expectations for students have changed, American education is still K-12 focused. Many view preschool as an optional choice or luxury for those who can afford it. However, that perception is slowly beginning to change as more areas adopt a preschoolfor-all approach. Several states such as Oklahoma, Florida and Georgia, as well as New York City now offer universal pre-K programs.
Yamamoto taught in Vancouver Public Schools (VPS) for eight years before leaving when her first child was born. “I didn’t foresee landing here,” she says. “I’d resigned and planned to be a stayat-home mom. Then I got a call from the district saying that kindergartners were really struggling. ‘How would you like to start a preschool program?’” It began as a pilot class to offer free preschool through the public-school platform. The program
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has grown to be so popular that each year there is a waiting list to get in.
At the time Yamamoto came back to work, Head Start was the only program to offer free preschool to low-income families. To qualify, a family of four had to earn $33,000 or less a year. In addition, there was a daunting amount of regulations and paperwork involved in the registration process, which could be intimidating for parents. That system also left a bubble filled with families who made more than $33,000, yet could still not afford a tuition-based preschool. “The district is really focused on early learning,” says Yamamoto, “So we brainstormed on what we could do and how we could reach families whose children were preschool age.”
To address those students on the preschool waiting list, as well as families without preschool options, Yamamoto began an evening preschool program open to all students the year before they would begin kindergarten. Thanks to district funding, local donors and her early learning partner, Kelly Mainka, the evening school program has now grown to include 13 elementary schools in the district. One to two nights a week (depending on the school), a child visits the school, eats dinner and then engages in a family activity. During the program, children get accustomed to a classroom setting and parents begin to feel assured that school is a safe place to send their child.
Along with the evening programs, VPS offers the Jump Start program at all elementary schools. Jump Start is held for one to two consecutive weeks in the summer for children attending kindergarten that fall. The goal is to give incoming kindergartners a taste of a classroom experience in the school they will be attending. For the kids, it’s a fun way to help them prepare for the school year by becoming familiar with the routines and rules of the school.
Grow and Learn is another free early learning program housed at many VPS elementary schools. This ESD 112 program runs throughout the school year and offers parents and children age birth to 5, a weekly hour-and-a-half class. Children have story time, a snack and engage in a hands-on activity. Its focus is to acclimate families into a classroom experience, better preparing students to enter kindergarten ready to learn.
Over the last three years, Yamamoto has worked with local architects to help design early learning classrooms in three new elementary schools being built in Vancouver. The classrooms can be rented out for state and federally funded preschools or developed as district earlylearning centers. As more programs become available, the biggest hurdle to overcome is getting the word out. “Churches have been excellent partners, as well as apartment complexes and neighbors,” says Yamamoto.
Go to VancouverFamily Magazine.com for a list of free preschool programs in Vancouver, and to access Vancouver
Public Schools’ Early Learning Newsletter (developed by Kendra Yamamoto), available in English, Spanish, Russian and Chuukese.
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Kindergarten is much more advanced than it used to be, and it’s important for every child to have some kind of classroom experience before they enter a full academic day of school. “It’s so frustrating and heartbreaking for kindergarten teachers to have to sit down with a parent on their first parent-teacher conference and explain to the parent that their child is already behind the others in class,” describes Yamamoto. “I want to prevent those difficult conversations. We can, if we’ve given those children enough opportunities to be ready for kindergarten. Not just the kids, but their families as well.”
Julia Antopol Hirsch lives with her husband and two children in Vancouver, where she is working on her third novel. She is the author of “The Sound of Music: The Making of America’s Favorite Movie,” which was reissued in 2018. She loves to swim and read, and has three mischievous dogs who love to go to the dog park every day.
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