State: SFPS pre-K programs excel
District official says trio of five-star ratings reaffirm quality of city’s early education programs
It was about 8:30 a.m. in Rebecca Scott Gonzales’ prekindergarten classroom, and her 18 students were already busy, singing about respect and kindness. After
the music, they ran through an alphabet drill and then discussed their plans to use pine cones they had collected outdoors for a Halloween or Thanksgiving project. It was a classroom of smiles, raised hands, ideas driven by curiosity and students who seemed eager to learn about anything they could — from how to handle bullies to how to draw monsters. Gonzales, who has taught pre-K at E.J. Martinez Elementary School for several years, said 4-year-olds learn by play. “I tell all families that this program doesn’t prepare kids for kindergarten,” she said. “It prepares them for life.” The New Mexico Public Education Department recently announced that Gonzales’ pre-K program is one of three in the Santa Fe school district — including the Nye Early Childhood Center and a pre-K class at Nina Otero Community School — and six at public schools statewide to receive the department’s top-quality rating of five stars. Programs are evaluated by their success in promoting social relationships, providing dual-language instruction and engaging parents. The rating system also takes into the account the professional qualifications of educators.
Patricia Azuara, early childhood leader liaison for the Santa Fe school district, said the recognition “validates that the practices that we are using are of high quality. It means we can use those classrooms as models for other pre-K programs within the district.”
State education officials reviewed Santa
Fe Public Schools’ pre-K data and then visited several classrooms — including Gonzales’ — for on-site observations last spring.
Advocates of early childhood education programs say they better prepare 3- and 4-year-olds for school by teaching social skills as well as math and literacy skills.
Despite New Mexico’s often abysmal showing in national studies regarding public education, the state generally has received high marks for its success in building pre-K programs statewide.
Earlier this year, a report by the National Institute of Early Education Research said the state has slowly but surely invested more money in pre-K programs and is working to ensure those programs are of a high quality.
The New Mexico Legislative Finance Committee issued a report this week saying that “prekindergarten programs improve math and reading proficiencies for low-income 4-year-olds, lower special education and retention rates, and lessen negative effects of mobility.”
But the legislative report also questioned whether the gains last in the long term. While 27 percent of students who took pre-K classes proved to be proficient in reading by the third grade, the report said, 26 percent of students who did not take pre-K courses also achieved proficiency.
Azuara said the district began its pre-K program in 2005-06 with just 20 half-day students. The district now serves 387 4-year-olds in 19 classes at 13 school sites — 115 in half-day programs and 272 in full-day programs.
Demand is high, according to Azuara, who said the district received close to 560 applications for the program this year. Admission is by lottery.
The district wants to expand the program, she said, but “we need to move slowly to provide good quality. Quality — that’s the key.”