ROANOKE (WSLS 10) - Two areas in southwest Virginia are getting money to improve early childhood education. The $250,000 grants come from the Virginia Early Childhood Foundation to improve pre-school and test some methods that could change future policy in the Commonwealth.
4-year-old Johnny Watkins makes this walk every morning with dad Lowell into Greenvale School.
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"They've definitely worked with him quite a bit and I think it will be a lot easier for him to go to kindergarten especially making the transition from Greenvale to another school," said Lowell Wakins.
Teachers like Pamela Johnson made Johnny more independent.
"Parents will be surprised and amazed at how their child can solve their own problems being able to self regulate themselves," said Johnson, who teaches 3 to 5-year-olds at Greenvale School.
"He was barely talking when he got here and within a month he was putting sentences together, coloring, identifying shapes, counting, starting to spell," said Watkins.
The United Way of Roanoke Valley and Wythe County Public Schools each received a grant. They are partnering with other organizations to replicate the same types of classroom education in different daycares and pre-schools.
"Quality preschool education is the best investment any community can make and it's future economic landscape," said Afira DeVries, United Way of Roanoke Valley President and CEO. "This is a program that really models against making sure children have the academic supports that they need but also the social and emotional support that they need to teacher child interaction and teacher parent interaction which is a really well-rounded environment."
The $250,000 in grant money will pay for things like teacher training to become more in line with what Roanoke City Schools preschools offering as well as paying for updated props and shelving for two classrooms. After the eighteen month grant period is over (July 2016-June 2018) they will compare test scores to see if it's working and possibly change Virginia policy while changing lives like Johnny's.
"It's teaching him a lot of independence. They are definitely educating him very well at a young age. It's just improving his life, teaching and skills and making him stronger mentally," said Watkins.
Both Wythe County and United Way are working on similar ways of using the money. Implementing what's taught in the school system's pre-school classrooms in private settings like daycares, churches, and other preschools like Greenvale. The Wythe County Superintendent Dr. Jeff Perry says if this program works they will have served 95% of new kindergarten students by the start of 2017. He points to research saying 80% of education happens before kindergarten yet we don't invest in early childhood education. Dr. Perry hopes by educating children earlier they can identify potential learning or social problems and work to solve them before kindergarten.
"We were going to start 2-3 more preschools but realized it would destroy some of the local daycares, hurting businesses," said Dr. Perry who added Wythe County already started working on a plan last year to fill the gaps and train churches and other organizations. "Some groups are taking 100% of curriculum and implementing it while other groups are taking pieces. We feel positive about what's happening and everybody wins in this."
Wythe County Director of Elementary Education Beth Cochran is coordinating the efforts for the school system.
United Way Thomas Jefferson Area, James Madison University and Smart Beginnings Rappahannock Area also received the Mixed Delivery Preschool Pilot (MDPP) grants.