School Readiness - School Related Support Services for Children

5.2 School Related Support Services for Children

A Focus on Services

The wide scope of the recommended responses described in the previous section, as well as the complexity of responding to the needs of young children, strongly suggest that the "readiness" of the school needs to be comprehensive in nature. Indeed, Mallory and Goldsmith, (1991) in their review of the Head Start Programs in the United States, had this to say.

"Many people see Head Start only as an educational experience for children. Although Head Start is proud of its education component, its services are much more comprehensive... The Head Start Programs include health, education, parent involvement and social services. Such services are designed to meet the needs of children in the context of the family. In 1986-89, 99% of the children received medical screening, and 98 % received treatment. 95% of the families received social services."

Kurnesh and Farley (1993) suggest that interagency collaboration in the delivery of children's services is the prerequisite for school readiness and success. The road to successful school readiness involves a new vision that encompasses not only children and their environment but the roles that schools, communities and service agencies must play in their healthy development of children.

Their concerns about American children's services are applicable here in Canada. The problems in service delivery include these issues; the services are crisis oriented, rigid in delivery and fail to connect interrelated causes. From the perspective of families, the services are often not available or accessible. Some sources wrongly focus on family weakness rather than their strengths.

Other American sources have applied this concept of interagency service delivery to early childhood. The North Central Educational Laboratory (1993), a US Department of Education agency, has published a policy brief that discusses these same delivery problems, The authors assert that there is a "non-system " for early childhood and they describe what it will take to change things..

The NCREL Policy Brief then goes on to cite the report of the National School Readiness Task Force, that was aimed at achieving the "readiness to learn" goal of the United States. The policy brief also defines the essential elements of an Early Childhood system. These elements include:

* · a focus on families as the primary educator and care giver

* · comprehensive treatment of all domains of the child's development

* · a community based action, driven by citizens

* · integrated services for children and families

* · high quality/development and successful for all children.

The NCREL Policy Brief, also describes effective initiatives to change service delivery system. They need to be

* · school-linked

* · rooted in the community

* · use place-specific services delivery prototypes

* · data-driven

* · financially pragmatic

* · use interdisciplinary pre-service and inservice training.

* · engaging all citizens in the process

* · balanced between the potential and technical dimensions of systems change.

Finally, the NCREL paper provides guidelines for effective interagency collaboration that can ensure effective delivery of children services.

New Brunswick Early Childhood Initiative

The Early Childhood Initiatives for Priority children and their families started in New Brunswick in 1992. The ECI is an integrated service delivery system for children aged 0-4. The system is coordinated across the province by a single entry point, the public health nurse. The Carleton Victoria Child Development Services program is a local example of this provincial initiative. It received $3000. per family to officer home visits, needs assessments, and the development for individualized family service plan.

Lombardi (1992) argues that continuity in services delivering is critical to readiness for learning. As the children make the transition between home or preschool to formal schooling, they need to be assured of continuity in these three things:

* · developmentally appropriate practice

* · parent involvement

* · supportive services

Prince Albert, Saskatchewan

The West Flat Citizens Group in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan used four types of programs to respond to community problems: preschool care for young children, an "Eagle " program for teens, a recreation program for youth a low cost repairs housing program, and a volunteer policing program. Most of the children in the preschool program are aboriginal. Anecdotal evidence suggest students are gaining in language and social skills.

There are general provincial guidelines and action documents available on the integration of services for children. (Alberta, NWT, BC, QC, YK, ON.) All of these models suggest strategies and specific actions for young children entering school.

Another service that needs to be part of a school's readiness plan is screening, a process to identify children at risk of not making a successful transition to school. Such screening or early identification programs are used to predict which students may have difficulty in regular classrooms. Hills (1987) described the practice associated with early identification. She notes that "screening and assessment " are not interchangeable practices.

Screening is only a preliminary process for all children to identify potential problems. Individual assessment of individual children should then follow the initial screening. She also notes that such screening practices were introduced because of escalating academic standards being introduced in. the early grades.

Once that initial screening has been done, there are several services, or strategies for success, that can be used to support the child. These include one-to-one tutoring, parental involvement and transition planning.

Brockville, Ontario

Bertrand (1996) described the Staying on Track Program in Brockville, Ontario, which was a cost-efficient community-based model of identifying at-risk children aged 0-5 years. Early intervention activities are then provided by public health nurses. Findings of an evaluation of this program showed that the program should improve levels of functioning among children. Socioeconomic factors were not as predictive as quality of parent-child interactions.

A final element in our discussion of services for young children that need to be part of a school's readiness plan is preschool programming on the regular school site. The Association of large School Boards in Ontario (1987) created a Task Force to examine the connectors between preschool/ daycare programs and regular schools. That report recommended actions such as: * · clarification of legal responsibilities and school mandates

* · flexible implementation of provincial polices and programs

* · the development of a solid rationale for locating these progress on the regular school site (quality, financial benefits, administrative coordination

* · consideration of the issues (financial and legislature issue, programming)

Saskatoon, Saskatchewan

The Saskatoon Board of Education introduced preschools as part of its Inner City Elementary Schools initiative. The preschool was one seen by a board made up of the principal, community workers, and parents. Three quarters of its funding came from government and the local community raised the rest. Local churches and service groups actively supported the program.

The National Association for the Education of Young Children (1996) has described the characteristics of good preschool programs. These descriptors are practical and practice oriented, offering parents and educators visible signs of effective teaching and successful learning.

For more on community and agency readiness, go to:

5. More about Community/ Agency Roles

5.1 Community and School Approach Explained

For more on school-based readiness, go back to the Introduction.