SMSD’s Free Preschool Program is Successful in Preparing Them for Kindergarten

At the SMART Start program in Overland Park, the four- and five-year-old students attentively listen to their teacher when she speaks. If it weren’t for SMART Start, these underprivileged students wouldn’t have this opportunity; they would be starting kindergarten miles behind their classmates. Thus, every time one of these preschoolers learn a new concept, they celebrate.

“Now that we can all count to one hundred, we get to kiss our brains!” the teacher says to her students, smiling.

Students squeal and laugh as they kiss their hands, and smack it right onto their forehead. This act of celebration is one of the many popular techniques SMART Start uses to get their students excited about learning.

SMART Start, started in 2006, is a Shawnee Mission School District (SMSD) program that offers a free early childhood education for students who are at risk. In order to qualify, students must fit into at least one of the criteria: a parent active in the military, qualify for free or reduced lunch, have a first language other than English, have a parent who was a teen when they were born, live in a single parent household, a parent is lacking a GED, the student is developmentally delayed or the student qualifies for services under the Migrant Education Program.

Besides the diversity of the student body, what administrator Michelle Wallace-Beaven believes makes SMART Start unique is their rigorous curriculum and direct instruction.

“[SMART start] is different than a church preschool or others in our community because, in our preschool, we have licensed teachers who could teach in [other SMSD] schools,” Wallace-Beaven said. “Most preschools are following the model of ‘let the kids play and develop those skills through exploration.’ We don’t take that model. We [teach] intentionally.”

Every day, students in SMART Start do structured activities led by their teacher to improve their math, reading and science skills to prepare them for kindergarten. Within those activities, the kids learn problem solving and basic kindergarten etiquette like walking in a line, sharing and saying “please” and “thank you.” These skills, according to Wallace-Beaven, give the SMART Start students a head start over those from other preschools.

“Elementary schools look forward to getting our kids because our teachers can tell from day one, based on our students’ behavior, that they’re from SMART start,” Wallace-Beaven said. “They can tell that kid knows how school works, that kid doesn’t. That’s a huge advantage.”
In addition to basic math and reading skills, SMART Start specializes in working with students who are English Language Learners (ELL). Nearly half of the SMART Start students come to the program without knowing a word of English. To get them familiar with the language, Wallace-Beaven says the teachers “bombard the students” with English by using visual methods like labeling and pictures. By teaching students English early in their education, fewer students will have to be part of the ELL program in elementary school, saving the district money and resources.

“After they’ve been through our program, they don’t have to have ELL services when they’re in kindergarten,” Wallace-Beaven said. “So it obviously gives them an advantage over other students who aren’t English speaking because they can understand the instruction.”

Almost as important as their students’ education, according to Linda Roser, the executive director of the Shawnee Mission Education Foundation (SMEF), is making connections between the schools and the families.

“[SMART Start] is a district program, so the connections are made immediately from this program to their home kindergartens,” Roser said. “[Elementary Schools administrators] know the students here, and all the folks know where they’re going to go to kindergarten based on their address. Also, they’re connected with the principal, and even in kindergarten start getting invited to activities at the home school.”

SMART Start also offers ways for parents to be involved in their student’s education; a few times a month, they’ll host a “Drop Off and Drop In” day, where parents come in when they drop their kids off at school and observe their class. According to Wallace-Beaven, these types of activities and their end-of-the-year graduation ceremonies attract a large, diverse group of people.

“When we have events like [graduation], we don’t just have a few people come; everybody comes,” Wallace-Beaven said. “We’ll have every student’s family here. It’s not just mom and dad, sometimes its mom, dad, grandpa, whoever their family is. We have huge numbers of people that are involved in the students’ education.”

Despite the improvements SMART Start is making, the services they’re able to provide are heavily restricted by lack of funds. Although Roser and Wallace-Beaven acknowledge their gratefulness towards the annual grants given to them by the state of Kansas, the funding still isn’t enough to serve as many students as they would like to. SMART Start has 180 spots for incoming 4-year-olds each year, with more than 300 hopefuls on the waiting list. If it weren’t for the $750,000 cost, the program would be able to open two unoccupied classrooms already in the SMART Start building. In addition to teachers and classroom resources, much of the cost would be maintaining the rooms year round.

With the state’s current financial standing, their funding is constantly at risk, and one of SMART Start’s main goals is to collect enough money that would protect the program in case there is a cutback in funding. Also, the SMART Start leaders would like to collect enough donations from the community and local businesses so that they could continue to grow their program by opening the other two classrooms.

“Over the last several years, [SMEF] adopted certain areas where, as a foundation, we feel we can help connect community resources to benefit programs at our schools. Early childhood is one of those programs,” Roser said. “Those [grants] are annually at risk, and if the funding is lost at the state level, then we’re going to have kids that we’re not able to serve.”

With the success SMART Start has had in their seven years, protecting the program is a top priority for Wallace-Beaven and Roser. Last year, the first group of students from the program was tested in their third grade classes; nearly all of their assessment scores exceeded those of their peers who did not attend SMART Start.

Wallace-Beaven hopes that if her SMART Start students continue their success, they will challenge themselves in high school by taking math classes all four years or taking a more challenging science class that they don’t necessarily need to graduate. It’s these types of things, she thinks, that promises these kids a better future.

“I believe every child should be able to go to a preschool if they want to go, and they should be able to go to the best one that is available to them,” Wallace-Beaven said. “Do I think it’ll take a long time? Yes. But we’re going to work towards it.”