I am not asking to start a shoot at your neighbor sort of thing, but if someone who testifies after you has something to say that brings something to your mind or that you would like to comment on, feel free to draw our attention to it and do so. Thank you very much. Mrs. Fredericka Wilson. Mrs. Wilson, according to my witness list, is a Head Start teacher. Is there anybody with you, Mrs. Wilson? STATEMENT OF MRS. FREDERICKA WILSON, TEACHER, HEADSTART PROGRAM, MIAMI, FLA.; AND MRS. RUTH BARON, TEACHER Mrs. WILSON. There are other teachers in the audience; perhaps one of them would like to come up. Mr. FORD. Go right ahead, please. Mrs. WILSON. Well, as a teacher in Head Start I would like to start out by saying that this has been one of the most profitable experiences I have ever had. I started out teaching second grade but I have always been interested in small children, and when Head Start came along the second year I went into Head Start. I can truthfully say that this program to me has done a great deal in closing the so-called learning gap that we hear so much about in connection with disadvantaged children. It has done so simply because of the classload and the atmosphere that is present in the Head Start rooms. I have had the opportunity to work with 20 children and an aide, and all of the attention I can give the children is sheer delight. When I started out there were 15 children and two aides, and this was even better, but each year the funds were cut and now it is 20 children and one aide, which is still good because I can divide my time with the children that need me. The aide can do the same thing and the atmosphere is different. The children are comfortable in what they are doing and they get all of the attention I believe that they need. We have a lot of volunteers coming in. Parents are welcome into the school and they are there mostly every day. Mr. FORD. May I ask you a question at this point? When you speak of the Head Start program-are you talking about the five-year-old program in the public schools? Mrs. WILSON. Yes. Mr. FORD. That averages about 20 children to a class? Mrs. WILSON. Some a little bit more, some have 22. Mr. FORD. How does that compare with the normal class size for the ordinary kindergarten child of the same age group? Mrs. WILSON. My goodness, they have like 30 children and one teacher. Most of them don't even have aides. With the Head Start kid who is disadvantaged, I don't think that will work too well. I think they need that extra person in the classroom and they need the small classload. Mr. FORD. Go right ahead. Mrs. WILSON. Also the subject matter that is being introduced into Head Start, we go into cooking, industrial arts. They are introduced to mathematics, reading skills, all incidental learning, story-telling. They love dramatic plays, they like to dress up like mama and like daddy and all the time they are learning so much. I guess the reason that all of this is possible is the excellent teacher training that I have received by being a Head Start teacher. Other teachers in the school have commented to me that Head Start teachers are really trained. Every work day, like today is a work day, we have some kind of a workshop to attend, some kind of demonstration, consultants are coming in: we have other teachers coming in and sharing their ideas. I have done three workshops myself with teachers, and anything that I feel comfortable in, things I have done in my classroom and I know will work, I am invited to share with teachers all over the County, other Head Start teachers, and we are given release time to come in, and teacher aides are brought in and they share what they have learned. I just think that the teacher training that Head Start teachers receive with the Dade County Board of Public Instruction is so valuable, especially to the children. Also, the aides have been given a lot of training. They have been given the opportunity to attend schools; they have tried to further their education. Some of them are just at the brink of completing their education, and now they say most of them will be unemployed because they do not employ aides in kindergartens. Some schools do. I guess it depends on how they can budget it, but this is the thing that has been bothering me I suppose because they will not be able to work, and they gear themselves to a certain economic status, and they are going to have to drop right back down. Mr. FORD. Is a certificate required to teach in kindergarten? Mrs. WILSON. Yes. Mr. FORD. Does that require four years of college? Mrs. WILSON. That's right. Mr. FORD. There are no exceptions to that? Mrs. WILSON. Not that I know of. So that means that the aides will just be out. I can't even explain how valuable they are to me. It is just not that they are people who need jobs, but these people have been trained and they have taken the initiative to go to school. Some of them have even completed two years of college where they have been given control over a classroom, and we call them assistant teachers. Then we have a teacher, Mrs. Cleo Beaver, who went all the way to the top and finished at the University of Miami. Now she is a certified teacher in Dade County. Also, the parent participation is so great in Head Start. A lot of times you will find that parents don't come to school to visit because they feel, well, they might feel a little inferior, but in Head Start they can't because they come in and there is always something for them to do. I have had parents come in and alter grown-up clothes to little-tyke sizes so the children can wear them in the doll house corner. They have come in and we have cooked in the classroom and the children have helped with the cooking and we all sat down and we ate it. They go with us on field trips and they are always in the school. They come in and sometimes I don't even know they are there and I turn around and there is a parent and she has a book in her hand and she has a group of children and they are sitting on the floor and she is sharing a story with them. You just don't find this in the regular schools. I just think it is because of these demonstrations and these in-service workshops and things that I have been talking about that teachers have been given this feeling that they can invite parents in, and they have been trained in how to deal with parents and what to say to them, to make them feel comfortable in the classroom when they do come out to visit. We also have parent meetings. We have parent groups so wellorganized that they meet every Tuesday and Thursday nights, and they sit down and make games that the children can play with at home, games teaching the children their colors. They are taught the art of story-reading and things they can share with the children. They are taught to listen to what the child has to say, especially at the dinner table. It is just so marvelous. I just feel so good about Head Start. Also the field trips that the children have taken, these are trips that I am sure I am almost positive that otherwise they would never have gotten there. I have taken them to the grocery store to shop. I took them downtown to Christmas-shop. We go to parks, animal shows, public shows. They went on a train ride to Hollywood. I took them to the beach; they went to the airport; they have gone on a cruise ship. A lot of times we even get to the point that we run out of money that Head Start has given us because we don't ever have enough. The parent groups are formed so strongly that they actually go out into the community and sell things and raise money so that these children can continue these field trips and go on and on and on. Also the medical services, I have had so many parents come to me and say how pleased they are with the results. The doctor comes in and this also had to be cut back, but I can remember a time when the doctor would come around once a month and ask me, "Do you have any problems in the classroom today? Does anybody have a cold?" And the children really at first were afraid of the doctor, but when he started coming around they got over this fear and they looked forward to his visit. And when he came in, some had wax in their ears and he got it out. Some of them had colds and he gave them medicine. It was just wonderful. Also the psychological services, we have several psychologists. Now I only know of two that serve everybody, and they get around when they can, and they come in and if the children are having any problems they take them aside and they do what they are supposed to do. And also the dental services, the children go to the dentist in taxicabs, and this is a big experience for them too, because they are getting all of this care. This is really an impact on the community because otherwise they wouldn't even get this care. Also the lunches that they receive, and the snacks and the nap, the daily nap that they get. This is good for the routine I guess because most children at home, they just rip the streets, nobody cares for them, and they don't get a nap. We have a nap time and they see movies. It is almost just like home. It is just too good to even think about altering or cutting or dropping. Also I just think for everybody's sake involved, the teachers, the parents, the community, the country, the President, everybody, I just think we should give these kids a chance before they become hardened against society. Give them a place that they can come in and in a relaxed atmosphere, so they can relate to adults, talk to them and just be loved and know that somebody cares for them. And in a few years I think we are going to all see the results, good results of Head Start, because these children are getting a good foundation, and as they grow up there will maybe be fewer dropouts. They have gotten this love and this care in this Head Start classroom, with these 20 children and this aide, these volunteers and these parents coming in. Mr. FORD. Mrs. Wilson, I would like to compliment you on the fact that you have just given that entire description of the benefits of Head Start without once mentioning such things as improved reading skills or math skills or other of the usual measurements, skills that are usually used to measure the product of Head Start. I intend to reproduce that in some fashion and submit it to some of the critics when they come before the full committee and see what they find fault with and see if we can get them to tell us how they go about measuring this love. I wish that we had a picture of your face when you said that, however, because the people back here are missing something that Congressman Mazzoli and I are having the benefit of. I did not hear the name of the other lady with you. Mrs. BARON. I am Mrs. Ruth Baron. Mr. FORD. Mrs. Baron, would you like to add something? Mrs. BARON. I would like to ditto everything that Mrs. Wilson said. Mr. FORD. You are a Head Start teacher? Mrs. BARON. Yes, that's correct, and I entered the Dade County teaching field when Head Start began because I was so interested in the Head Start program. I have seen the Head Start program grow; I have seen the children grow; I have seen myself grow. I would also like to say that the Head Start program has been very innovative in Dade County. We have introduced many, many different ways of teaching children, which we hope the rest of the County will use. We don't use the traditional sitting-still-in-a-chair-with-a-pencil. We give the children firsthand experiences. We use games; we use all different methods. I would also like to say that I have seen the program watered down a little year after year. As Mrs. Wilson said, we did begin with 15 children and two aides and a teacher. Now we have 20 children and one aide and a teacher, which is working beautifully, but I would actually hate to see one teacher with 30 children in the room, because then I feel we cannot meet the individual needs of each child. As far as volunteers, we have many volunteers. This year I have had many men volunteer; many fathers have come in and they have played ball with the boys and they have played ball with the girls, and they have used woodworking tools with the boys and the girls because they love it so much. We seem to have the whole community participating and everyone seems to feel at ease. I know the children always say to me that they just love school. If you have any questions to ask me I will be glad to answer them. Mr. FORD. Let me ask you: You have been in the program for five years? Mrs. BARON. Five years. Mr. FORD. It is sometimes said of Head Start, and someone else mentioned it here today, that we probably aren't doing too much about erasing the dropout problem, about dealing with the ultimate problems, because as long as the child stays in the same environment he was in before he came into Head Start, which is changed only by those things that happen with his parents, the effect will be lost. Do you have any opportunity to do any kind of followup with children that you have had in Head Start? Do you know anything at all about what happens to them? Mrs. BARON. Well, some of the children that I had about 5 years ago are in the 5th grade now. From what I hear, they are doing well. They are not at the age to drop out, they are not in high school yet, but they are doing well. This is what I have been told. Mr. FORD. You have indicated that you feel one of the values of Head Start, one of the values for all of the children in the Dade County school system is the innovations in the education of younger children that have been developed because of the small classroom size and the other things you have in Head Start have now been adapted to and adopted by other teachers for general school populations. Mrs. BARON. We are hoping that it will be adopted. Some teachers have adopted them because they have seen the value of the things we do in Head Start. We hope to bring others around to that theory also. Mr. FORD. Thank you very much, both of you, and I hope you will stay and add any comments you would like to those that come after you. Miss Bryant and Mrs. Hessie Brown. You are Miss Leonora Bryant? STATEMENT OF MISS LEONORA BRYANT, AIDE, MIAMI, FLA. Miss BRYANT. Yes. Mr. FORD. And you are an aide in the Head Start program? |