Quality early learning environments play a vital role in later learning

Over the last year, I have learned a great deal from outstanding education and non-profit leaders as cohost of the KTBS 3 podcast “Education Check Up.”

These are different perspectives on school improvement, but there are common themes we all hold. We all want an education that provides opportunities for all our children, and we know we must begin at our children’s earliest years. A focus on early child care and development and early elementary literacy – a back-to-the-basics approach – has been the new concentration priority of our school systems.

Early education is a priority. Having available, accessible, safe, nurturing, quality child care is vital for our community. Eighty percent of our children’s brain development occurs in the first four years of life. Anybody that has watched how fast children or grandchildren learn can attest to that fact.

Quality early learning environments play a vital role in later learning. If we want to make quantum advances and provide opportunities for our children, we will find a way to invest in ways to promote education at home, church, daycare and school systems for our youngest citizens. Our legislature has responded to this need by adding $84 million in new state funding in 2022 and over $50 million in 2023 to increase access to quality care in education statewide.

Literacy is the key to success in school. We estimate the future jail population by measuring the literacy rate in today’s third-graders. From our Louisiana Department of Education to our parish school boards to our early elementary classrooms, we should continue to embrace the focused concentration on teaching children to read well. It is “all hands on deck” to advance reading skills. It is getting back to the basics.

The empowerment of students to achieve their full potential has always been the foundation of school choice. School choice has been important to our community for decades with magnet and private schools. Charter schools are the newest addition to school choice and have bipartisan support. In national polls, 70% of parents support charter schools, including 82% of Republicans, 68% of Democrats and 67% of Independents.

Because of the new Louisiana Key Academy public charter school, NW Louisiana now has a school with no cost or tuition for children falling behind because of reading difficulties from dyslexia, a reading disorder in nearly 20% of the population. Like MD Anderson is a specialty hospital for treating cancer, the Louisiana Key Academy is a specialty school to help children overcome struggles to read, write and spell from dyslexia. In so doing, the school allows a child to overcome the selfimage problems of dyslexia.

The LKA gives choice to families regardless of socioeconomic status. The school is located in the newly remodeled Arthur Circle Elementary School (261 Arthur Avenue) in Broadmoor. It has no attendance zone and is open to families in Caddo, Bossier, Webster, DeSoto and across NW Louisiana. LKA offers a free screening process. In the first year, the school will serve K-4 and a grade will be added every year to the 8th grade.

No matter what opportunities we provide, children can’t learn if they are not at school. The truancy rate since the pandemic is enormous and frightening. Our shock at the statistics presented to “Education Check Up” has led to an in-depth analysis of the problem by KTBS 3 anchor person Johnette Magner. You can view this excellent piece by going to the KTBS 3 website.

Our K-5 truancy rate for elementaryage children missing more than 10 days of school went from around 380 the year before the pandemic to over 3,100 in the past year. That is a 700% increase in truancy. This will have to be addressed, or we can expect to double the number of jail cells needed. This is another “all hands on deck” issue that won’t be solved until we get together to solve it.

In “The Wizard of Oz,” we learn we can’t look for someone behind the curtain to solve our concerns. A dedicated focus on investment and early childhood development, early elementary literacy, school choice and reducing truancy is a logical start. These are education foundation blocks for our community.

Dr. Phillip Rozeman is a cardiologist and host of the KTBS 3 Podcast “Education Check Up” of ktbs3.com and an advisory board member of the Louisiana Key Academy “LKAschools.com.” He was recently honored with a lifetime service award from CABL and the NW Louisiana Medical Society.