RSG | Press Page: District-Wide Preschool Opens in Hamden

The public school system has opened its first preschool program offered district-wide to give more children the skills they need to succeed in the early grades. 

Eighteen children attend the daily preschool sessions at Alice Peck School off Shepard Avenue. Ten slots are reserved for low-income kids, the rest selected by lottery. The program started Jan. 31.

School Supt. Alida Begina said the district has applied for a $5,000 grant from the United Way to expand the program to serve 36 children next year.

"There's a pretty solid record of research that shows that it makes a positive difference," Begina said.

She said educational research over the last 40 years shows that children who attended quality preschool have higher high school graduation rates and lower rates of crime.

In fact, she said, the research says that every dollar spent on quality preschool saves seven dollars on incarceration and other social problems later on.

Educators also believe that offering preschool will lower remedial learning costs in the future.

The emphasis is on "quality," however. It isn't enough just for low-income children to attend preschool. It needs to be a structured program that uses learning play and other activities to build the skills that children from more affluent families acquire by virtue of their economic opportunities.

"Some of the kids who come to us only have half the vocabulary of kids from affluent families," Begina said.

The program offers structured literacy instruction through learning play, designed to boost vocabulary, teach the alphabet, and teach children how to write their names. Also included are socialization skills and some simple math instruction.

Church Street School already offered preschool for 18 children, but just for families in that school's district area in southern Hamden. That program will continue in addition to the new program at Alice Peck School.

A master teacher, assisted by teacher aides, all with expertise and certifications in early childhood education, will teach both preschool programs.

The preschool is open during school holiday weeks, such as last week, but not during the summer months.

Tuition is set on a sliding scale, depending on whether a child is admitted under the school readiness program. Tuition for those children ranges from $5 to $580 a month, based on family income. Tuition for other children ranges from $150 to about $600 a month.

Begina said the school system has begun to track the school performance of children who have attended quality preschool. It is now part of the application for kindergarten in Hamden. The children in the preschools at Church Street and Alice Peck Schools also will be tracked.

This way, school officials will be able to determine how much the district is saving in remedial education costs and measure the benefit to the children from attending preschool.