PAFE looks to boost literacy to get students 'Ready' for school

SANDPOINT - Family literacy may just be the most important crayon in the pencil box for a child's success in school.

By teaching parents, grandparents and caregivers the skills to develop early childhood literacy, Panhandle Alliance for Education hopes to increase the number of children who have the requisite letter, sound, math and social skills needed upon entering kindergarten to make their school experience successful, said PAFE executive director Marcia Wilson.

Currently, 44 percent of children who enter Lake Pend Oreille School District's kindergarten classes do not have those skills.

“It's really sad,” Wilson said.

Although children who are behind in those skills make yearly progress once they enter school, it is unlikely that they will catch up with their peers by the end of high school and some may never finish school, according to Kennewick, Wash.-based Ready! for Kindergarten and other national research.

PAFE will launch a local Ready! for Kindergarten program this fall for children ages birth to five to address that gap. National brain research shows most critical childhood learning takes place from birth to age five.

“Ready! for Kindergarten is a life-long dream come true for me,” said LPOSD curriculum director Judy Hull.

Developed by the Kennewick School District and the National Children's Reading Foundation (based in the same community) to counter low reading and math scores and meet the demands of the No Child Left Behind Act, Ready! instructs families on everything from eye exercises for a newborn to purposeful play using well-made educational toys, gameboards, alphabet and number strips and gives them a free book a month from Dolly Parton's Imagination Library.

Early childhood education and kindergarten are not funded by the Idaho Legislature.

Yet a recent survey of Idahoans indicates “strong support for funding and programs” related to early childhood education, particularly for working and low-income parents, according to an Idaho Kids Count report released Tuesday by the Public Policy Center at Boise State University.

Most surveyed indicated they would be more likely to vote for a candidate who supports early childhood programs.

A lack of early childhood funding has far-reaching social consequences, said PAFE co-founder and school board member Mindy Cameron. It affects employment opportunities and shows up in the amount of money the state spends to fund prisons, she said.

Interesting enough, it may be substantially cheaper to fund early childhood education than it is to pay for remediation to bring children to proficiency, according to a white paper prepared by PAFE.

On the national average, schools spend $8,000 a year or $96,000 over 12 years for remediation to bring children up to speed.

PAFE plans on reaching 200 people via three, 90-minute classes a year at $240 a year or $1,250 for the length of the program.

The organization will need to raise $56,000 this year to operate the program. Those costs include paying for a part-time coordinator, classes, materials, outreach and awareness.

It plans to raise $16,400 locally through individuals, businesses and organizations, another $22,000 through a 150-mile bike ride set for September and the rest by applying for grants through the Idaho Community Foundation, the Inland Northwest Foundation and the Barbara Bush Foundation.

The grants, however, are contingent upon PAFE showing it has financial support from the local community, Cameron said.

Eventually, the goal is for LPOSD to take over funding of the program. In an August 2006 article by the Education Writers Association, some states have included early childhood funding in their school funding formula. Idaho, which has not revised its forumla since the mid-1990s, does not.

Ready! for Kindergarten does not have income guidelines and is open to people who plan to educate children in any setting, whether it be home, private or public school.