Four Year Old Kindergarten Called Great Equalizer

The 4-year-old kindergarten program has become "the great equalizer" that allows children from all backgrounds to enter school "with the same solid academic foundation," a recently retired teacher told a special legislative task force Monday (August 21, 2006).

Nancy Skwarek, of Milwaukee, said that in her experience in teaching 5-year-old kindergarten, "those children who attended K-4 were much more successful" because they started school "already having established a basis for success."

Skwarek said she sees a new achievement gap emerging. "It is not a gap between race and income levels per se. Instead, it is a gap between the children who have attended a quality public preschool program and those who have not," she told the Speaker's 4-Year-Old Kindergarten Task Force.

Skwarek, who spoke to the task force on behalf of WEAC, said 4-year-old kindergarten is important because it provides a foundation for lifelong learning that prepares students for academic success.

"Research has shown that 85% of a child’s intellect, personality, and social skills are formed by the age of five," she said. "Numerous studies have demonstrated that an investment in a quality preschool program will result in higher academic performance, a better-educated work force and less crime."

The continuation of 4-year-old kindergarten within Milwaukee Public Schools and throughout the state is critical, she said, "if we truly care about the future of our children and the quality of all our lives."

"K-4 is especially critical in MPS because our K-4 curriculum has become what the K-5 curriculum used to be. The K-5 curriculum consists of what used to be taught in 1st grade and this trend continues throughout the upper grades," Skwarek said. "Considering this additional rigor, MPS students must have access to a quality public school K-4 program if they are to experience future academic success."

The task force is expected to make a recommendation to the Legislature in the coming months.

Nancy Skwarek's complete testimony

Posted August 24, 2006