Sean C. Morgan
In its second year of operation, a preschool operated by the Boys and Girls Clubs of the Greater Santiam is running at about half capacity.
“I think we still have room for 10 kids,” said Director Kris Latimer, and she invites low-income Sweet Home families to send their children, to help give them an advantage as they enter kindergarten.
Funded by Linn-Benton-Lincoln Education Service District, the club is contracted to provide preschool two days per week at no cost for qualifying families. Admission into the program is income-based.
Preschool teaches children how to socialize and how school works, she said. They learn how to put their coats on hooks, talk to their teachers and how to interact with each other.
By third grade, Latimer said, children who attend preschool are more likely to meet math and reading standards.
“We want kids to graduate from high school,” Latimer said. Linn County, east Linn County especially, has a low rate of children attending preschool, which is an essential part of getting children ready to attend kindergarten.
In east Linn County, about 37 percent of children go through preschool, Latimer said. In Benton County, some 72 percent of children attend preschool, noting that the county exceeds Linn County in each measurement category.
In 2016-17, at third, eighth and 11th grade, a substantially larger percentage of Corvallis children met state standards in math, English language arts and science than statewide or in Sweet Home or Lebanon.
Corvallis had a 92.8-percent high school completion rate and an 82-percent graduation rate, with a 0.8-percent dropout rate, down from 2.1 percent the year before.
A lower percentage of Sweet Home met standards compared to the state, although 11th graders were ahead of the state in science and near the state percentages in English language arts and math.
The high school completion rate was 75.6 percent. The graduation rate was 71.7 percent, and the dropout rate was 3.8 percent, falling from 6.3 percent the year before.
Latimer thinks that preschool programs can help make a difference.
“It’s an awesome program,” she said. The curriculum in Sweet Home is loosely based on the Pumpkin Seed preschool operated by the club in Lebanon for decades.
“Preschool is one of the important elements of changing the long-term outcomes in our county,” Latimer said. “We really want parents to understand the important role preschool plays in long-term academic success.”
“It’s the foundation to be kindergarten ready, the structure and environment and exposure to that,” said Sweet Home Schools Supt. Tom Yahraes. “It’s the basis for a good foundation.”
Preschool gives children numerous advantages as they enter kindergarten, said Rachel Stucky, director of teaching and learning, referencing information from the Great Schools program. It is an opportunity for growth, providing children their first experience in a structured setting with teachers and groups of children.
A good preschool can prepare children socially, emotionally, cognitively and physically for kindergarten, she said.
The setting is structured even if it appears otherwise, encouraging social interaction and minimizing conflict. Preschool provides choices to children as they are encouraged to participate in activities that interest them. They learn to take care of themselves and others, building their sense of competence and self-worth. Teachers nurture a child’s sense of curiosity.
Perhaps most importantly, “preschool is early detection and prevention,” Stucky said, detection of anything, such as problems in the development of social, emotional, language, cognitive and motor skills.
“The ESD is always working very proactively with preschools to identify students who may have self-regulation problems or cognitive-language concerns,” Stucky said. The preschool programs work “together to try to support all our children and family members before they even get to grade schools.”
Working with kindegarten teachers over the past year, she has learned “they are all passionate about kiddos coming to school prepared for kindergarten,” Stucky said. Unfortunately, the community has many children who lack the skills they need, the self-regulation, motor skills, social and emotional skills.
But Oregon is trying to do something about it, she said, and it is spending more time and money on preschool education.
Making preschool even more important, today’s kindergarten isn’t what it used to be, Stucky said. “It’s much more rigorous than what we went through.”
The district likes to see children spelling their own names before they enter kindergarten, for example, she said.
The Boys and Girls Club program had about 14 students last year.
Each of those children went into kindergarten this year understanding how to function in a group, Stucky said.
“They enter kindergarten prepared to be successful kinders,” she said. “They know what to do with their little backpacks. They know how to get a teacher’s attention or color with friends. They know how to sit in a group and be quiet.”
Children who stay home before kindergarten don’t get that kind of exposure and must learn it when they reach kindergarten.
“I think it’s working great,” Latimer said. “We have a great partnership with the School District and the Linn-Benton-Lincoln ESD.”
For more information about the preschool or to apply, call the Sweet Home Boys and Girls Club at (541) 367-6421.