Mayor Purcell announces new training for childcare staff and early childhood professionals
February 4, 2004 - Mayor Bill Purcell announced today a new training series for Nashville’s childcare centers and early childhood programs. The training will be focused on how centers and teachers across the city can implement the new community-wide Pre-Kindergarten standards in reading and math. “For the first time in our city’s history we have community standards telling us what our children should know in reading and math before they enter Kindergarten,” said Mayor Purcell. “Staff at quality childcare centers, and early childhood programs want to do everything possible to get their children prepared to enroll in Metro Schools, but they need training. Today, we can say that the right community partners are coming together to make that essential training a reality.”
The first training will take place on February 18 at the Nashville Library, in which 100 center directors and lead teachers will get an in-depth review of the standards. Early childhood programs that commit to implementing the PreK standards in their center will then get first priority for a daylong teacher training on the reading standards on March 5 and a daylong training on the math standards on April 2. There will be space available for up to 300 teachers for each of the March and April training dates. Staff from Metro Schools, Head Start, and early childhood programs in the community are providing the training.
The Metropolitan Action Commission, which administers the city’s Head Start program, is providing the free training and teacher materials as part of its annual Borderless Classroom series. “We believe that we need to take a leadership role in making sure that not only are Head Start children ready for school, but that all Nashville’s children are better prepared for Kindergarten,” said Cynthia Croom, Executive Director of the Metropolitan Action Commission.
Other partners in the PreK training include the Mayor’s Office of Children and Youth, which is leading the creation of a teachers’ manual to accompany the standards. The 100-page manual will give a detailed explanation of each objective, as well as examples of classroom strategies and activities. The Davidson County Child Care Resource and Referral and the Nashville Area Association for the Education of Young Children (NAAEYC) have sent an announcement of the PreK training series to every licensed childcare provider in the city, inviting them to register and participate.
The PreK training is the first result of a new initiative to align community resources around the priorities identified by Metro Schools. “Children who come to school ready to learn have a far greater chance of success than those who aren’t prepared when they arrive.” said Director of Schools, Dr. Pedro Garcia. “Community alignment means all those who support our school system will be on the same page as our school system.”
The PreK standards in reading and math were developed by a committee of Metro Schools PreK teachers, Head Start and early childhood professionals from the community. The standards are available online at www.nashville.gov/mocy.