School Readiness Conference

Jack O’Connell, state superintendent of public instruction, asked about 500 early education teachers, advocates, administrators, parents and others to work closely with the next superintendent in the continuing fight for school readiness success.

O’Connell, who is wrapping up his second four-year term, told a conference of First 5 LA-funded School Readiness Initiative stakeholders to help the state’s next top educator, newly-elected Tom Torlakson, focus on children being better prepared for kindergarten so test scores continue to rise and the achievement gap gets smaller by “eliminating the readiness gap.”

The conference at the Marriott Burbank Airport hotel on Oct. 28, sponsored by First 5 LA and Families in Schools, convened during a child care funding crisis. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger cut $256 million to the CalWORKs Stage 3 program last month, leaving child care services in jeopardy for 7,000 Los Angeles County children ages 0-5, as well as older thousands of 6 to 13-year-olds.

While O’Connell called Schwarzenegger’s action “unconscionable, mean-spirited and short-sighted,” he was optimistic that continued and future funding would come. (That day, First 5 LA became one of dozens of Proposition 10 Commissions in the state to approve emergency loans to help the program continue for the 0-5 participants through January of next year.)

“There’s no question that there’s a great challenge ahead,” O’Connell said. “But there’s also no question that – if we continue to work hard, smart and together – the best is yet to come for public education.

“Our kids need us more than ever,” he added.

Throughout the day, more than 25 workshops on everything from breastfeeding and obesity to literacy and kindergarten transition gave attendees the latest information, research and tips.

At a panel discussion titled “The Power of Early Literacy in School Success,” Eva Mitnick, the acting manager of youth services for the Los Angeles City Public Library, explained that early literacy is not about reading before school – but establishing vocabulary, narrative skills and print, pneumonic and letter awareness. (To learn more about early literacy, visit our Read Early, Read ALOUD! literacy campaign page this month.)

Meanwhile, in another talk entitled “Childhood Obesity Prevention: Families Combating an Epidemic,” Lourdes Baezconde-Garbanati, of the Keck School of Medicine at USC, drew gasps from the audience with photos of obese babies.

While the eight-year School Readiness Initiative ends in 2011, the conference organizers hoped it would be a day of celebrating past achievements and moving forward to ensure success for all school children.

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