Statements on Introduced Bills and Joint Resolutions-S. 2654
CONGRESSIONAL RECORD
SENATE
July 14, 2004
STATEMENTS ON INTRODUCED BILLS AND JOINT RESOLUTIONS
By Mr. DODD:
S. 2654. A bill to provide for Kindergarten Plus programs; to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
Mr. DODD. Mr. President, I rise today to introduce legislation with my colleagues Senator Kennedy and Senator Bingaman to jump-start school success for low-income children. Today we are introducing the Sandy Feldman Kindergarten Plus Act of 2004.
Sandy Feldman, the President of the American Federation of Teachers, stepped down today after decades of public service. If there is one goal to which Sandy has dedicated herself over the years, it is the education of our Nation's children.
Sandy is the product of New York City's public schools. She knows what great promise public education holds for our Nation. But, she also knows that all too often, we don't give our schools the resources they need to be able to live up to that promise.
While I've worked with Sandy for many years, I've been particularly privileged to work with her in the area of early childhood education. It was Sandy who developed the concept for this Kindergarten Plus legislation and Sandy who spent countless hours developing the details to ensure that the initiative would work in a diverse array of communities.
Although Sandy is leaving the AFT, I know she will continue fighting for our Nation's children, and for mothers, fathers, and teachers across this Nation. I look forward to her continued counsel and advice on education issues and other issues of importance to families.
The Kindergarten Plus legislation we are introducing today will offer competitive grants to States to provide children below 185 percent of the poverty line with a transitional kindergarten during the summer before kindergarten formally begins and a transitional first grade during the summer between kindergarten and first grade.
Why an extra four months of kindergarten for these children? The answer is simple. Because too many low income children today enter kindergarten unprepared for the year ahead, far behind their wealthier peers in both academic and social skills.
According to a recent survey, 46 percent of kindergarten teachers report that at least half of their class or more has specific problems with entry into kindergarten. Yet, kindergarten is critical in preparing children to succeed in elementary school, especially for children at-risk of academic failure.
There is no panacea, no magic wand to erase the deficiencies that too many low income children have in entering kindergarten on par with their more economically well-off peers. It is simply not possible in a two month period before kindergarten begins or in a nine-month half day pre-kindergarten program to wipe away the advantages that wealthier children have had in their first five years of life that result in the skill set with which they enter kindergarten.
We can, however, do a better job of preparing less fortunate children for school. We can expose them to classroom practices and routines and the expectations for kindergarten behavior and protocol. We can introduce them to concepts and help them understand that classrooms have rules. We can expose them to literature, story time or circle time. We can help them understand that books are made up of printed words and that words are made up of individual letters. We can ask them questions to help develop their critical thinking skills, like what do you think will happen next in the story? Why? We can offer them "show and tell" to develop their oral language skills and ability to speak out loud in sequential sentences.
Many children enter kindergarten with these skills. But, many do not. During the school year before a child is eligible to enter kindergarten, about 75 percent of children in families with more than $75,000 in income participate in some type of center-based program, compared to 51 percent of children in families with incomes between $10,000 and $20,000.
The numbers are much more stark when looking at the children of mothers who dropped out of high school. Recent data shows that about 74 percent of 3, 4, and 5 year old children whose mothers graduated from college were enrolled in a center-based program compared to only 42 percent of 3, 4, and 5 year old children whose mothers did not complete high school.
How does this translate to children? Some children know how to follow directions and some children do not. Some children transition well between activities as part of a daily routine, some children do not. About 85 percent of high income children, compared to 39 percent of low income children, can recognize letters of the alphabet upon arrival in kindergarten. About half the children of college graduates can identify the beginning sounds of words, but only 9 percent of the children whose parents didn't complete high school can recognize the beginning sounds of words.
Of equal concern, kindergarten teachers report that about 80 percent of children whose mothers graduated from college persist at a task and are eager to learn whereas only about 60 percent of the children whose mothers have not graduated from high school persist at a task and are eager to learn.
What we know from the research is that children can enter kindergarten better prepared to learn. We may not be able to close the gap between low income children and their wealthier peers, but we can certainly narrow it considerably.
Our bill would provide states with resources to offer a transitional kindergarten during the summer before kindergarten begins. This would enable local school districts to offer a jumpstart on kindergarten with smaller class sizes during the summer. Before all kindergarten eligible children arrive, K+ children would have an introduction to kindergarten. The same opportunity would be part of the program for the summer between kindergarten and first grade.
The introductory period would enable school districts to target low income children who may never before have participated in a center-based program such as Head Start or state pre-k, or nursery school. They could target low income English language learners or low income children who participated in Head Start or state pre-k who could continue their progress during the summer.
About 65 percent of mothers with children under age 6 are in the workforce today. Every day, about 13 million preschoolers, including 6 million infants and toddlers, are in some type of child care arrangement. What we are trying to do with this bill is to pull out low income children who would be eligible to enter kindergarten in the fall and offer them a summer enrichment period as an introduction to kindergarten. It might be that a local Head Start or community-based organization's preschool would continue to operate their programs during the summer. However, these are local decisions made by school districts that apply for and receive K+ funding.
It should be clear that the K+ program would operate as a supplement to existing programs, most of which follow the school calendar. In fact, children who participate in a high quality early learning program during the summer before kindergarten are not eligible to participate in K+ to avoid duplication of efforts and scarce resources.
In the National Academy of Sciences report, "From Neurons to Neighborhoods: the Science of Early Childhood Development", numerous recommendations are made to improve the foundation with which children enter school. The report points out that with so many parents working today, the burden of poor quality and limited choice in child care rests most heavily on low income working families whose financial resources are too high to qualify for subsidies or Head Start yet too low to afford market prices for quality child care.
It is the children of the working poor who are very much at risk of beginning kindergarten behind their wealthier and poorer peers. Yet, it is these children in addition to poor children who are most likely to enter kindergarten behind their wealthier peers, unprepared for the year ahead.
Supporting the K+ program is the American Federation of Teachers, AFT, the Parent-Teacher Association, PTA, the Council of Great City Schools, the Society for Research in Child Development, SRCD, the Children's Defense Fund, and Easter Seals.
We urge you to join us as cosponsors of this legislation and help give low income children a jump-start on school success.
Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that a brief summary of the bill and the text of the bill be printed in the RECORD.
There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in the RECORD, as follows: