Leaders will use funding to focus on early childhood education across the island

The Anacortes School District is getting a $533,000 boost to help get kids ready for school thanks to a grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

The two-year grant includes funding for curriculum development, teacher training, preschool scholarships and community outreach.

“What’s a real credit to our staff, board and community is they were looking for districts that already were doing good work in early education,” said Superintendent Chris Borgen. “It’s a confirmation we’re doing the right work.”

And it goes beyond the school district.

The grant includes money to reach out to private preschools and childcare centers on the island to make sure all kids are getting the early education they need.

“There’s the potential to have a congruent program in both public and private early childhood education across the island,” Borgen said.

That means more kids will start kindergarten ready to learn.

The district was one of five in the state that received a total of more than $2 million in funding from the foundation. The money is earmarked to help integrate programs for young children ages birth to 5 into K-12 education.

In Washington, less than 50 percent of all kids enter kindergarten ready to succeed in school. Researchers have found that achievement gaps present at kindergarten grow wider as children advance through elementary school.

“All children deserve the chance to begin kindergarten ready to succeed,” said Bill Gates Sr., Gates Foundation co-chair. “But in Washington state, too many children lack access to high-quality care and preschool opportunities during their first five years of life. Our local school districts are uniquely poised to help a wide array of early learning providers better integrate their efforts so that more children can begin school on the right foot.”

The Anacortes School District’s goal is to have 90 percent of kids deemed school ready before they start kindergarten.

“That means our students are entering the district with the academic skills, learning skills, social skills,” Borgen said.

That translates to things like being able to stand in line and raise their hands, knowing the difference between numbers and letters and knowing how to listen and follow directions.

In the fall of the 2005-2006 school year, 67 percent of incoming kindergartners were deemed school ready. In 2006-2007 that number increased to 77 percent and last year it was just more than 80 percent.

This spring 79 percent were considered kindergarten ready. Kids who weren’t ready were invited to a summer pre-kindergarten program and were recently retested.

“Typically we see a significant increase in the number of students who are school ready,” said Kevin Schwartz, Whitney Early Childhood Education Center principal.

In the summer program kids learn pre-academic skills like how to stand in line and knowing numbers, shapes and colors so they are ready for kindergarten.

Retest results aren’t back yet, but Schwartz anticipates the number will reach more than 80 percent this fall.

“Every year we’ve creeped up a little in the numbers,” he said.

District leaders hope to reach 90 percent in a few years.

With much of the district’s resources going to full-day kindergarten, Schwartz said the grant provides the needed resources to focus on the earlier years.

“In order to branch out in the community this grant will help,” he said.

If students can start school on the right foot, studies show they are less likely to drop out later and districts spend less money on remediation, Schwartz said.

Generally, every dollar spent in early childhood education saves $8 later in remediation, he said. And part of that equation is a good preschool program.

“It all goes to a successful start in education,” Schwartz said.

Remediation keeps students from falling further behind, he said, but most don’t fully catch up.

Schwartz said the state is looking more at early childhood education because of the impact it has.

Students’ early training window is between 3 and 8 years old when things like their academic attitudes are developed. If kids are able to get help when they are younger, it has more impact, Schwartz said.

The grant will give the district funding to seek out kids who aren’t in preschool and provide scholarship money to get them into a program. The partnership with preschools, childcare providers and the community is where Schwartz sees an area to help the students who need it.

“That’s where we’ll see the biggest gains in the 90 percent,” he said.

At the end of the grant cycle, Borgen said he’d like to see the district have a program that is transferable to other local early childhood educators as well as other school districts and a program that is sustainable for years to come.




Gates grant launch
The Anacortes School District will launch its Gates grant project to help get kids school ready with a presentation at 7 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 11 at Anacortes High School’s Brodniak Hall.
The event will include details about the early childhood grant and is geared toward community partners, early childhood providers and interested parents.

Early learning Gates grants
• Anacortes School District will receive $533,000 to develop an aligned curriculum for birth to 3 education, formalize partnerships with community agencies and early childhood experts and continue progress at the Whitney Early Learning Center.
• Nooksack Valley School District will receive $492,856.
• Olympia School District will receive $379,275.
• Sedro-Woolley School District will receive $341,150.
• South Bend School District will receive $350,799.

Across Washington, the Gates Foundation is committed to improving access to high-quality early learning for all children.

Guided by the belief that every life has equal value, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation works to help all people lead healthy, productive lives. In the United States, it seeks to ensure that all people — especially those with the fewest resources — have access to the opportunities they need to succeed in school and life. Based in Seattle, the foundation is led by CEO Patty Stonesifer and co-chair William H. Gates Sr., under the direction of Bill and Melinda Gates and Warren Buffett.