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The county school district is now reaching closer to the cradle -- and farther from a fading tradition that school starts at age 6 -- to get children off to a good educational start.
As of Monday, the newly transformed James J. Davis Elementary School in the rural Dale community in northern Beaufort County offers five classes for 3-year-olds. Today, 85 of these little children are in school -- 51 more than previously served in the area, one of the poorest in the state.
And this is an interim step. Soon, the district hopes, infants as young as six weeks old and children younger than 3 will be served at the Davis Early Childhood Education Center. The school already has five pre-kindergarten classes serving as many as a hundred 4-year-olds.
For the past 20 years, the national dialogue on improving education, boosted by new research into early brain development, has focused on early intervention and helping students start first grade ready to learn. High-quality early learning can help close the achievement gap between the rich and poor.
The new classes at the school in Dale come as the Beaufort County School District plans ribbon-cutting ceremonies for next Monday at two new early childhood education centers in Bluffton.
Each school -- one next to M.C. Riley Elementary and one next to Bluffton Elementary -- will hold 300 students in pre-kindergarten (age 4) through first grade.
To appreciate the depth of what we're seeing happen in our community in this two-week span, remember that not long ago full-day kindergarten was not offered in many schools.
We're convinced that the early start will pay big dividends. But nothing can replace the family in preparing students to learn. If we are to succeed, we will need to see more of the collaborative work that has gone into the new programs at Davis Early Childhood Education Center.
That work includes the Beaufort-Jasper Head Start program for early-childhood education and the Sheldon Township Community Support Partnership, which brings together residents, churches, businesses, neighborhoods and institutions.
The new center also is benefiting from another partner, Beaufort-based Environments Inc. The company designs, manufactures and distributes children's furniture, educational equipment and curriculum material for early childhood education. It has donated about $15,000 worth of goods and services to the new classrooms at Davis. Natalie Daise said, "It seemed an excellent opportunity to put our money where our heart is."
More of Beaufort County's youngest, most vulnerable children now have new opportunity. This is progress.
