40% of kids arrive at kindergarten ill-equipped to learn

By Annie Cubberly | The Olympian's Board of Contributors • Published August 20, 2008

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I have two passions in life: gardening and early learning. An important analogy has occurred to me between them. When a gardener wants to maximize a plant's growth, he or she prepares the soil and plan for where the tiny plant will be safe from slugs and will have sunshine, water and fertilizer. Once a strong root system is developed the plant will have the ability to withstand drought or disease.

When a gardener neglects a plant in this early phase, the plant will develop a weak root system, a floppy stem and smaller leaves. It will not produce healthy flowers, fruit, vegetables or seeds. A plant that gets a healthy start will grow to its potential and be productive.

Of course children are not plants — they are living organisms with a growth cycle that depends on a strong beginning.

The first three years of a child's life are a time of exponential growth. Eighty percent of a child's brain is developed between birth and age three. If children do not receive proper nutrition or health care, if they fail to bond with a parent or caregiver, if they are neglected or abused, the consequences might be lifelong and very expensive to taxpayers. The child's ability to focus, to problem solve, to express empathy and to engage in creative play and his or her pre-reading skills are all formed before kindergarten. This is well documented by sound scientific research.

The ironic thing is early learning remains woefully underfunded. A Harvard study identified that less than 1 percent of the education budget goes to early learning while spending gradually maxes out as a child turns 18. This seems inconsistent with what we know about brain development and the importance of the early years in predicting a child's success in school and life. When 40 percent of children are arriving at kindergartens not ready to learn, it is clear that we need to provide services earlier.

The Thurston Early Childhood Coalition, made up of more than 40 different community agencies, has created a strategic plan to begin to address these issues. They identified four community goals:

• Ensure early-learning environments where children from birth to age five will learn, grow, and enter kindergarten ready to learn.

• Reduce community barriers and mitigate risk factors that negatively affect children.

• Increase public awareness and understanding of early brain development.

• Strengthen and coordinate funding and advocacy efforts to adequately fund early-learning environments in Thurston County.

The Thurston Early Childhood Coalition is host to the third annual Early Learning Leadership Luncheon on Oct. 24. Rebecca Kilburn, with the Rand Corporation, will speak on investing in children as strong economic development policy. She builds on the message brought to the community by previous speakers: Rob Gruenwald of the Federal Reserve Bank and Bill Gates Sr. of the Gates Foundation.

Children growing up in Thurston County should have the support and services that they need to succeed. This is a community that cares about its children and sees that our children's successes will contribute to our future economic development.

Annie Cubberly, executive director of the Child Care Action Council, is a member of The Olympian's Board of Contributors. She can be reached at annie@ccacwa.org.