Pre-K proves to be a success
Pilot program gets more state funding

By Bill Donovan
Staff Writer

GALLUP — A two-year pilot program that allows the local county school district to provide education to 4-year-olds has proved to be so successful that the district has received additional funds to expand the program in September.

The plans call for two more elementary schools Chee Dodge and Juan Onate to join Rocky View, Tohatchi, Navajo, Church Rock and Washington offering the program.

The Gallup-McKinley School District will receive $632,854 to provide the program to 211 pupils.

The state of New Mexico announced this week that an additional $14 million is being provided throughout the state for expansion of the pre-K program.

The funds will also be used to fund sites at six elementary schools in Cibola County Bluewater, Cubero, Mesa View, Milan, Mount Taylor and San Rafael as well as one in the Zuni Public School District A:shiwi Elementary.

Studies locally and nationwide have all pointed out that providing a school setting a year earlier than kindergarten can have a marked effort on how well pupils do in not only their elementary school career but in middle school and high school as well.

Tammy Hall, director of elementary education services, said in the first two years of the program, the district has not been forced to turn away anyone who wanted to be in the program.

"If we ever do get more students than we have space, we would probably go to a lottery type system to determine who would be enrolled," she said.

Pupils who are in the program get a big heads-up on the learning process before they head into their kindergarten classes when they are five.

Not only do they get into the real early stages of math and reading but going to school at the age of four years provides students more socialization during their nap and play times, skills that would not be learned if they just stayed at home, Hall said.

This is especially valuable, she said, for students who may need help with their verbal skills as they cope with learning both Navajo and English.

One of the things that has been said time after time again at school board meetings is the need to provide quality education opportunities as early as the student to learn. What the district studies have shown is that students who lack the education skills in the third grade, the first grade where real testing is done, in many cases find themselves behind throughout the rest of their school years.

In order to get the funds, the school districts had to do more than just cite the need.

State officials said applicants had to meet several criteria, including experienced and professional staff, developmentally appropriate curriculum, a commitment to involve parents and a means for assessing the progress of their pupils.