Early Childhood Education

Earlier this week, state schools Superintendent Nancy S. Grasmick was in Baltimore to tout new preschool curricula for child care centers, Head Start programs and nursery schools throughout Maryland. The week before, Grasmick and Rep. Steny Hoyer handed out awards to two counties for their work in promoting early childhood education. What's with the emphasis on educating tykes before they even reach kindergarten? Grasmick was very blunt about it when she proposed an idea that might seem so radical that it will never happen.

WASHINGTON -- Democratic presidential hopeful Al Gore fleshed out yesterday a $50 billion preschool proposal that would provide education for three-quarters of the nation's 4-year-olds but relies heavily on state governments.Early childhood education is shaping up to be a surprisingly potent issue on the campaign trail, as more and more families have two working parents. GOP front-runner George W. Bush has veered far from Republican orthodoxy with his preschool proposal, which draws on the guidance of the U.S. Department of Education, an agency that Republicans once targeted for abolition.

Judith Elaine Hoyer, a Prince George's County school official and wife of Rep. Steny H. Hoyer, died of cancer yesterday morning at her home in Mechanicsville, St. Mary's County. She was 57.Mrs. Hoyer was coordinating supervisor of early childhood education for the public schools in Prince George's, whose former county executive, Gov. Parris N. Glendening, issued a written statement remembering her efforts."We are, of course, well aware of the many contributions ofCongressman Hoyer to this State," Mr. Glendening said of the 5th District Democrat.

WITH THE RELEASE this week of a major study of the early adolescent years, the Carnegie Council on Adolescent Development has again sounded the alarm: Growing up in late-20th-century America is risky business.The Carnegie study, nine years in the making, presents some sobering statistics about those awkwardly in-between early adolescent years between 10 and 14:* One-third of 13-year-olds acknowledge that they have used illicit drugs.* Homicide rates for young people 10 to 14 years old more than doubled from 1985 to 1992, while the suicide rate and other self-destructive violence more than doubled from 1980 to 1992.

Small numbers are Eastern Christian College's pride and its sorrow.The 11 students who graduated yesterday from the tiny Bible college in Harford County will be among the last to receive degrees there.Unlike other schools in the Baltimore area, such as the Johns Hopkins University and the University of Maryland, Eastern has struggled to maintain enrollment and to recruit enough church sponsors to make ends meet almost since its inception 35 years ago.Eastern, with a student body of 40, will merge with another Christian college in Illinois next year.

Wallace Hamilton Kuralt, 86, retired social worker and father of TV newsman Charles Kuralt, died Thursday of cancer and respiratory failure in Elizabeth City, N.C. The Outer Banks resident was a strong advocate of early childhood education, and he instituted family planning services long before such programs won national acceptance.

Care-Givers Not Eyeing HandoutsIn Dick Buczek's letter ("Child Care Subsidy," May 29), it is obvious that once again, the major point of financially supporting early childhood education has been missed.I suspect that you visualize child care as a "change diapers, feed and play a little" type of involvement. It is much more than that. A large number of early-care providers are well-educated, with college degrees, and could be making considerably larger salaries (not to mention benefits) in other professions.

"If you're going to reach success, or meet with success," says Marilyn Eyler, "you have to have the whole family involved" in the education process.Mrs. Eyler is coordinator of the Even Start Family Literacy Program in Taneytown, which aims to teach families the skills they need to help them succeed in relationships at school and at work.The program has been in existence nationally for five years. The Taneytown program has operated for the past four in a portable building at Northwest Middle School.

Starting this fall, students at Anne Arundel Community College interested in early childhood education will be able to get an associate's degree that will qualify them for jobs in the child care field.The Maryland Higher Education Commission has approved the 60-credit career program, college officials said."The idea is to get the students to know the stages of child development, both physically and emotionally," said Rosemary Wolfe, chairwoman of the college's education department.After their course work is completed, students will receive an associate's degree in early childhood education that will qualify them for jobs such as director of a child care center, junior teacher in prekindergarten classes, preschool teacher and instructional aide in nursery, kindergarten or at the elementary level.

O'Neill T. Hammond, an educator and artist, died Sept. 22 of a viral illness at his North Ann Street residence. He was 43.Mr. Hammond had been an education specialist in the Baltimore school system's office of early childhood education since 1981. He began his career in 1967 as an art resource teacher and had held administrative positions in the gifted and talented education program."He was a very caring and highly knowledgeable person in early childhood education. He had a passion for excellence and was highly respected for his wit and very fertile mind.

A few days after this interview, Karlee Martini, the Knights' senior pitcher and captain, learned she had a blood clot in her right arm, which prematurely ended her season. Despite the setback, it's safe to say Martini got plenty of mileage out of her high school career. In her four years on varsity, Martini played every position for the Knights aside from first base and catcher. This year, she welcomed the responsibility of being the Knights' No. 1 pitcher while taking on the leadership role that comes with playing on a young team that has only four starters.

Donna Fowler would like to send her youngest son to a prekindergarten class near her Bowie home. But because she and her husband earn just over the state eligibility limit for free public pre-K, she'll have to keep 4-year-old Wyatt at home this year. The Fowlers and their five children have a family income of about $60,000, so they're not eligible for free public pre-K, which is capped at $59,200, or 185 percent of the federal poverty level for a family of seven. Nor can they afford the $300-a-month cost of private prekindergarten.

President-elect Barack Obama's pledge last week to spend $10 billion on early childhood education could have a huge impact on schools in Baltimore. A new infusion of federal education dollars, the largest since the Head Start program was established in 1965, could allow the city to significantly expand its prekindergarten and Head Start programs and make a huge difference in the lives of city schoolchildren. At present, only about 4,200 of the city's 6,500 4-year-olds are enrolled in pre-K programs, where eligibility is determined by family income.

RAMONA GREEN Vice president/education consultant Teamwork Connection Inc., Baltimore Salary $85,000 Age 56 Years on the job Two How she got started After earning a bachelor's degree in education from what is now Coppin State University, Green went to work for Baltimore's public schools as an elementary school teacher. While working, she completed a master's degree in education from the Johns Hopkins University. After 29 years with the city school system, which included 15 years as a teacher and 14 years as an early childhood curriculum specialist, Green lost her job during systemwide layoffs in 2004.

Early education still short of funds I am pleased that education officials cited investments in early childhood education as one of the factors contributing to recent improvements in math and reading scores in Maryland schools. However, I respectfully take issue with The Sun's suggestion that the state has "poured" additional money into early education ("Test scores rise," July 15). Although there have been important funding increases for several programs, most major components of early childhood education continue to be substantially under-funded.

Norah Jean-Marie and student teacher Christine Coppage, a Towson University senior, looked over the prekindergartner's work. Step 1: Draw the setting. Step 2: Glue on your favorite animal. Step 3: Tell about your drawing - in Norah's case a pig she had colored orange, red, black and yellow under the heading "The House on the Hill." The assignment, pegged to a book the class recently read, gave the 5-year-old Hawthorne Elementary School student the chance to demonstrate many of the lessons she had learned in the past few days, such as the concept that book characters can be animals or people, how to follow directions and how to explain a story.

Earlier this week, state schools Superintendent Nancy S. Grasmick was in Baltimore to tout new preschool curricula for child care centers, Head Start programs and nursery schools throughout Maryland. The week before, Grasmick and Rep. Steny Hoyer handed out awards to two counties for their work in promoting early childhood education. What's with the emphasis on educating tykes before they even reach kindergarten? Grasmick was very blunt about it when she proposed an idea that might seem so radical that it will never happen.

With a video camera capturing their every move, kindergartners Austin Klunk and Molli Rymer dropped clay into buckets on either side of a scale. "What happens if we put another piece of clay in only one of the buckets?" teacher Anne Heidenreich asked Molli. "It gets bigger," the 6-year-old said. "Bigger means you grow," Heidenreich said. "It gets heavier." "Yes, it gets heavier," Molli agreed. The students at Forest Lakes Elementary School were taking part in a math lesson that was being filmed as part of Your Public Schools, a bimonthly TV program that focuses on what's happening in county schools.

Gubernatorial candidates Martin O'Malley and Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. are expected to sign on to a campaign promoting the expansion of programs helping young children and families. The More for Maryland Campaign, which is to be launched today in front of City Hall, is asking candidates for public office to sign a pledge to "create more opportunity, demand more responsibility and deliver more results for our tax dollars every day." The pledge is vague enough that spokesmen from both campaigns said they believe there is little in it not to like.

Hammond senior Jen Lozier, a second-team all-county forward last season, has been a member of Team Maryland the past two years and will travel to California to compete at the U.S. Field Hockey Association's annual festival over Thanksgiving weekend. Lozier also runs track during the indoor season, plays center field for the Golden Bears' softball team and has been the team manager for Hammond's wrestling team. Maintaining a weighted 3.59 grade point average, she is considering a major in early childhood education or speech pathology and is considering East Stroudsburg (Pa.)