Skill-Building Leads to Reading in Head Start

Re “Beef Up Head Start’s ABCs,� editorial, June 23:

You need to observe a Head Start classroom that is using the High/Scope curriculum, and bring President Bush. You may need to visit three or four classrooms to see how the 31/2-hour program works on a daily basis. What you call “playtime� in the classroom is called “work time,� and work time is where the child learns the spoken-language and cognitive skills to develop the reading skills by using the senses to internalize his/her world at the age of 4. To begin a structured reading program at this age will not bring the results you are looking for, just as sitting and memorizing words will do little to create advanced test scores for first-, second-and third-graders.

If you want better reading results, let’s start with the parents: Help them to speak fluently (in English, Spanish and other languages), write and spell correctly and attend Head Start parent education classes, which are offered at each site. The federal government need not send any more money to Head Start for reading programs. It should spend money toward teacher requirements, education for teachers and providing updated classroom supplies. Without the above, the child might as well stay home and watch it all on TV.

Mary Stafford Harden

Mission Viejo