By Lindsay Tice,Staff Writer

BUCKFIELD – Harry Hayes was a bright boy, but a bit of a rascal.

He’d taught himself to read, but he was sketchy on following directions or taking turns. He liked to pull chairs away before people sat down, and he often couldn’t leave one activity and go to another without getting upset.

His mother called him a “handful.”

Because his parents worked, Harry spent much of his time in day care, bored. His parents thought school might be the answer.

Even though he was only 4.

“It seemed like a better use of his time,” said Harry’s mother, Terry Hayes.

Pre-kindergarten. It was an experiment for the state, which wanted better early education. It was an experiment for SAD 39, a deeply rural school system with many poor families and nearly no options for preschool.

It was an experiment for Harry Hayes and 19 other 4-year-olds, most of whom just wanted to ride on a big yellow bus and play with other kids.

National studies have shown that pre-kindergarten students do better in school, stay out of trouble and are more successful as adults. Across the country, publicly funded pre-kindergarten is exploding in popularity as schools search for ways to raise test scores and meet education standards.

“We don’t have a chance if we don’t catch them early,” said Rick Colpitts, superintendent for SAD 39, which serves Hartford, Sumner and Buckfield.

Public pre-kindergartens have more than tripled in Maine since 1997, with 91 school systems running some form of pre-kindergarten last year. Lewiston and Auburn are each considering programs. Dozens of others will learn about public preschool at a statewide conference entirely dedicated to the subject this week at Sugarloaf/USA.

School officials like pre-kindergarten programs – which are similar to Head Start or private preschools – because they are designed to teach kids how to get along with others, function independently and deal with school.

“So when you start kindergarten you can hit the ground running,” Colpitts said.

Now 19 years old, Harry Hayes and his classmates were among the first in the area to go through public preschool and graduate from high school. They’re old enough to know firsthand whether the national studies hold true, whether officials should continue to hope that pre-kindergarten is an answer to failing schools.

Results have been mixed. Test scores and graduation rates didn’t jump. But many of the kids say those early days – lessons learned in the sandbox, during circle time and over building blocks – helped them.

“I always thought school was really easy for me. That may have been part of the reason why,” said Hayes, now a psychology major at the University of Maine.

15 years ago

The Nezinscot Valley Preschool opened on a warm September morning in 1990.

The state had given SAD 39, Caribou and Waterville $50,000 a year to start pre-kindergarten programs and to use the renowned High/Scope curriculum, which emphasized social skills, free play and basic choices. Some Maine schools had public pre-kindergarten programs in the 1980s, but state officials hoped these three sites, with their mix of poor and middle-class families, rural towns and cities, would show others how to do it right.

Thea Palanza-Parker, then a kindergarten teacher, helped SAD 39 apply for the grant. Year after year, she saw 5-year-olds who started school but didn’t know how to speak in complete sentences, hold a book or make it through the day without hitting another child.

“They were missing everything basic you can think of,” said Palanza-Parker, who taught in the pre-kindergarten program and whose youngest son was a member of the first pre-kindergarten class. She now teaches second grade for the same school system.

Families clamored for a spot in SAD 39’s program. The school had to hold a lottery to fill its 20 slots.

Among the winners: Harry, the boy who got bored easily; Cassie Gauthier, a little girl who looked forward to “real school”; Jennifer Wisser, an outgoing child who stayed with her grandparents while her parents worked; Casey Hilton, a smart little girl who liked arts and crafts; and Jessica Belanger, a sometimes-shy child with a stay-at-home mother.

“I thought it would be good for her to have other kids to play with,” said Janet Belanger, Jessica’s mother.

During the next nine months, the 4-year-olds spent mornings at the Nezinscot Valley Preschool. Like an old-fashioned kindergarten class, the days were structured, but filled with free play, singing and stories.

“I didn’t even know I was learning,” said Cassie Patnode, then Cassie Gauthier. She thrived on the attention and also learned letters that year.

Jennifer Wisser and Casey Hilton gained independence. Jessica Belanger made friends. Harry Hayes learned to make choices.

Since parents had to become involved in the school, Harry’s mother learned something from the teachers, too: If she gave her young son a heads-up before switching activities, such as going from playtime to dinner, he wouldn’t get so upset.

“I learned all kinds of things about early childhood education,” she said.

At the end of the year, 20 smiling, fidgety kids assembled with their parents at the school. Each child got a graduation certificate.

Every one went on to kindergarten. For some, the transition was easy.

Pre-kindergarten taught Jennifer Wisser how to get along with other kids, how to be independent. When she walked into kindergarten at Hartford-Sumner Elementary School, she could tell which kids had gone to preschool and which hadn’t, just from their behavior.

“Some kids were out there. They weren’t taught, so they just didn’t know,” said Jennifer.

She thought school was easy.

Many parents and teachers could see a difference between the pre-kindergartners and their classmates.

“They almost acted more mature, like, ‘Could we stop fooling around now?'” said Marcia Hilton, whose daughter, Casey, attended Nezinscot Valley Preschool.

A limited study of the kids in 1993 didn’t back up parents and teachers, however. It showed that the pre-kindergarten graduates had slightly better work and study habits, but the same or worse social skills.

Mixed results

Through the years, Caribou kept its pre-kindergarten, voting to pay for it locally when the grant ran out. Waterville ended its program, eventually allowing a Head Start chapter to set up in the elementary school.

SAD 39 continued the Nezinscot Valley Preschool. It moved to the elementary school and, after some budget battles, became locally funded. The school ended its lottery and opened pre-kindergarten to everyone. About 80 percent of the towns’ 4-year-olds now go.

But the first pre-kindergartners were unique when they went through elementary school, and some grew frustrated. They had a head start and wanted to move faster than their classmates.

Marcia Hilton took Casey out of SAD 39 and enrolled her at Hebron Academy after first grade.

“I think Casey got stalled (in SAD 39),” she said.

Others stayed and blended in. At one point there were more than 75 kids in the class, making it one of the largest in SAD 39’s history. It became more difficult for teachers to pick out the 15 or so pre-kindergartners who remained.

In high school, they were members of the Class of 2004, a group known for its problems, including a one-time overall failing grade-point average. Their standardized test scores didn’t jump. Nor did the scores for the classes of 2005 or 2006, which included the second and third group of pre-kindergarten graduates.

Reading and math scores have risen slightly for more recent preschool graduates.

But the first group’s graduation rate didn’t change, and college attendance actually fell. About 59 percent of the Class of 2004 said they planned to go on to higher education, compared to 64 percent in 2003 and 79 percent in 2002.

The Nezinscot Valley Preschool graduates went in different directions:

Harry Hayes is a college sophomore in Orono. Cassie Gauthier married and attended college for a short time. She now works with the elderly and is considering joining the U.S. Army and going back to college.

Jennifer Wisser hopes to serve as a substitute teacher for Hartford-Sumner Elementary School before going to college for a teaching degree.

Casey Hilton is working with horses in Maryland and Jessica Belanger is working at a local Dairy Queen while planning a career working with animals.

Making a difference

Despite the Class of 2004’s static test scores and low college attendance, Palanza-Parker, the woman who helped SAD 39 start pre-kindergarten, says the program is worthwhile.

“I believe in the early piece being so important. I see kids who haven’t gone to preschool and who have no language skills, can’t listen, can’t sit still,” she said.

She believes pre-kindergarten gives kids a head start in the early grades and can help level the playing field for those whose parents can’t work with them at home and can’t afford private preschool.

She also believes pre-kindergarten can set the groundwork for later success, but only if kids overcome other factors, such as poverty and bad family situations.

“Preschool doesn’t guarantee success. I think that it does contribute to it,” she said.

Pre-kindergarten graduates agree.

“I feel I’m smart as a person today because I started at such a young age,” said Cassie, who got Bs in school and proudly pointed out, “I never failed a class.”

Others praised pre-kindergarten for giving them a sense of accomplishment, a head start on school, a network of friends. Their parents say those early days still affect the kids 15 years later.

Harry Hayes is big on choices, personal responsibility and accountability.

“I think preschool had a big part in teaching that lesson,” his mother said.

Years after the first class graduated, pre-kindergarten in SAD 39 is largely the same. The 4-year-olds go for a half day. The classroom is filled with toys and books and cubbies in primary colors. The only chalkboard is covered with artwork and the only desk serves as a stand for a toy phone. The day is low pressure, but structured.

As a result of the program, Hartford-Sumner Elementary has changed its kindergarten format. Teachers can move faster. The curriculum is more about early academics, not learning to share and stand in line.

About 90 percent of the school’s first-graders can read, officials say.

Members of that first class support the program and pre-kindergarten in general. And in several years, some graduates say, they’ll show that support.

Said Jennifer, “My children will go to preschool.”

Copy the Story Link