SUCCESS BEGINS EVEN BEFORE BIRTH

May 13, 2004

MAY 13, 2004 Legislation signed into law this week that overhauls Georgia's efforts to prepare children to learn before they get to kindergarten could mean more students graduate from high school in the years to come.

Because the new Department of Early Care and Learning could be a key piece in the state's efforts to produce a better educated work force, legislators and others should carefully follow its progress to hold the department accountable.

Gov. Sonny Perdue proposed the new department, which replaces the Office of School Readiness, giving it the charge of reducing bureaucracy and eliminating duplication of services in order to maximize use of resources.

In addition to coordinating efforts of early care providers, the new department, which will be led by Marsha H. Moore, the executive director of the Office of School Readiness since August, will administer the state's Pre-K program, license child care operations, administer federal nutrition programs and work with Smart Start Georgia on use of federal, state and private monies in early learning programs.

In short, anything to do with the care and teaching of Georgia's children prior to kindergarten will come under the area of responsibility of the Department of Early Care and Learning.

Why this new operation merits special attention is because children who don't get proper care ? especially good nutrition and mental and visual stimulation ? during the first five years are behind their peers when entering kindergarten and first grade and have difficulty closing the gap.

Experts say a person's brain grows the most between birth and age 5 and that the three key components of a child's early life experiences are poverty, health and early learning opportunities.

The track toward earning a high school diploma begins with the mother's nutrition before the baby is even born. Studies show that 40 percent of low birth-weight babies repeat a grade in school.
And children whose mothers didn't complete high school are unlikely to have the learning experiences at home of their peers whose mothers earned a college degree. Because a quarter of babies are born to women who have not completed high school, the situation calls for intervention.

The Department of Early Care and Learning has an ominous challenge, but one that must be tackled. Fretting over the high dropout rate and low SAT scores in high school is pointless unless issues are being addressed in the earliest years of life.

Waiting to touch the lives of children until they enter public school is far too late for many. Their chances for success improve dramatically if they and their mothers receive assistance early on. 

â?? This article posted with permission from the Albany Herald.