Despite Hard Times, Pre-K Program Persists
By Daniel Gaddy | The Anniston Star
June 30, 2010
An Anniston education program geared toward preparing children for kindergarten held a graduation ceremony Tuesday morning at LaGarde Park.
“Thank you for letting us be a part of your families, we are not only your HIPPY educators, but we count you as our friends,” said Marisol Torres-Velez, staff coordinator of the program.
HIPPY, Home Instruction for Parents of Preschool Youngsters, offers an additional approach to preparing children for kindergarten. Rather than having classrooms, staff members conduct at-home training sessions with parents. The staff members review the lesson plans and storybooks each week, and the parents work with their children to complete the curriculum.
Many groups throughout the country tout the benefits of pre-kindergarten programs. Studies have shown pre-K students get better grades and are less likely to drop out of high school.
Gov. Bob Riley even hoped to expand the state’s pre-kindergarten program, Alabama First Class Pre-K, by $30 million by 2011. However, the funds needed for expansion have been difficult to find given the state’s education budget.
“It became unrealistic as the economy changed,” said Linda Tilly, executive director of VOICES for Alabama’s Children and a member of Riley’s Council on Pre-K Policy.
Though the state was unable to expand the program to the goals set by Riley, Tilly said, education officials should be commended for the gains they made given the revenue they were working with.
Tilly said the HIPPY program is terrific in promoting parental involvement. Ideally, however, HIPPY should supplement a traditional pre-K course.
“If I was Bill Gates or Warren Buffett, I would make pre-K and HIPPY available to all four-year-olds in the state,” she said.
At the graduation ceremony in Anniston, Ron Haygood, a 13-year educator who participated in the program with his two sons, spoke of the importance of type of early parent involvement that HIPPY promotes.
“Parents are the X factor with a child’s education," he told the crowd. "You are your child’s best advocate.”
Clavius Gresham Sr. said his son looks forward to the lessons, referring to them as his "paperwork.” Gresham said that as he was reading the instructions to a particular lesson, his son called out shapes like trapezoid and hexagon.
“Things like that really impressed me," he said. "It's shaping his overall academic skills."
The program had 44 students graduate this year. The course generally lasts 30 weeks.
HIPPY is free to residents of Anniston and can be done in conjunction with programs like Head Start. The program takes students ranging from age 3 to 5. Torres-Velez said officials with Anniston’s HIPPY program hope to one day offer the courses solely to parents of at-risk children. However, Anniston’s HIPPY is currently accepting all applications, she said.
Anniston’s HIPPY program has been available to city residents since 2006.
Like Riley’s plan, HIPPY has been affected by the economy.
HIPPY is supported by a number of sources including Family Links, the Anniston Morning Rotary and state funds through Anniston City Schools. For the past few years, however, the program was operating with startup funds, which will be ending this year. Because of this and overall lack of funds from Family Links due to the economy, the staff members who work with parents will now be working only part-time.
“We’re trying to be as lean as we can and still provide high-quality services that families need,” said Robin Mackey, the outgoing director of Family Links.
Torres-Velez said she hopes residents of Anniston will continue support and take advantage of the program.
Those interested in the program can call Family Links at 256-820-5911 or visit hippyalabama.com.
HIPPY is a national program that began sites in Alabama in 1993. Since then, 26 counties in Alabama developed HIPPY programs.
© 2010 Anniston Star