The Preschool Times

It is fall conference time at the preschool and teachers are preparing their materials on each child. Conference preparation is a time consuming but important component of curriculum development. After a teacher reviews the work samples and Developmental Checklist for each child, she must then review her curriculum. Has she/he incorporated needed skills into the lessons? What adjustments must be done for the future?

Fall conference time for the school is like getting your tires aligned. You could drive the car without an alignment but the uneven wear would not give you an optimum ride.

So why do so few preschools have a parent/teacher conference for each child?

For some it is just ignorance they are not aware of the value of the conference, for others it is economics and still others it is a scheduling problem. Teacher prep, materials, and conference time can be costly to a school.

This year the school has found itself in a quandary. We have a private pay program and a state funded pre-kindergarten program. We have consistently provided conference time for our private pay clientele but have been unable to provide the same service to the state funded clients.

In the private pay program we have built into the tuition the funds necessary for lesson planning, home/school communication, class enrichments, conferences, materials and administrative oversight. The state pay program allows for none of these provisions. In state funded programs, payment is based on the actual hours that the students attend. If the child does not attend consistently, they are not funded. There aren’t any monies for: lesson planning, communication, materials or conferencing time.

So how are we, as a school, supposed to provide our state funded clients (the child) with a quality program? As an administrator I had to make some tough decisions. Rather then placing an unseasoned teacher (less costly) in the classroom, we went with a veteran, degreed teacher (more costly). Lesson planning time and home/school communications are still essential. So we found the funds from outside of the program but there are no funds for conferencing. We will have to align our curriculum on our own.

Once again Early Childhood Education is being treated like the unappreciated step child of education. We are given poorly funded programs and expected to prepare children to succeed in the academic world (while wiping their noses and tears). Once again Early Childhood teachers are expected to provide services and feedback on extensive amounts of unpaid time.

There are less and less Early Childhood specialists entering the field; soon it will dwindle to a handful. Perhaps then when classrooms are staffed by under educated personnel, we will begin to understand the full impact of under funding quality child care. If you are going to do something then do it right – fund it right. If they are not going to fund the state programs to include planning, communication and conferencing time, then they should drop it. It is time for parents to bring these concerns to their legislators. Someone must speak for the young children; that someone is you!

Peace & Light,

Grace