ASD Preschool Program Sets Children on the Path for Success

A child’s brain develops dramatically in their early years. Infants are born with a lifetime’s worth of brain cells (neurons), and the connections that form between those neurons influence how a child will behave, learn, and communicate through adulthood. Between ages birth to 3 a child’s brain forms one million of these neural connections per second, more than during any other period in their life. By age 6, a child’s brain will have nearly quadrupled in weight and reached 90% of its adult volume. 

That makes a child’s early years the most critical period to nurture brain growth and development. As a child’s first teacher, parents play an important – if not the most important – role when it comes to healthy brain development. Enrollment in a high-quality preschool program is almost as important.

“It’s phenomenal what a high-quality preschool program can do,” says Chelsea Mauro, director of the Anchorage School District's preschool program, which offers general and special education programs to children ages 3 to 5. “We want [students] to do great things, and we have to start early.  

“This is the most malleable time in their life for learning, so we have to be able to provide that high-quality education.”

Lifelong Success Starts Here

Research shows enrollment in a high-quality preschool program like ASD’s lays the foundation for a successful school career. Early learning in a structured environment improves cognitive and emotional development, the ability to self-regulate, and academic achievement, Mauro says. This, in turn, leads to increased graduation rates and higher levels of educational attainment, career advancement, and income. 

“We focus on the whole child in an academic and meaningful play-based environment,” Mauro says of the general education preschool program. “We have a strong focus on language and literacy for kindergarten preparation, and then we incorporate all of the five domains – academic, cognitive, social skills, emotional skills, and motor development.”

Mauro says the general education preschool program, which is open to children who turn 4 on or before September 1 of the school year, gets children ready to learn and eases the transition into kindergarten.  

“Children coming into our preschool classrooms have never been in school before, they’ve never necessarily been in a formal setting where they have to interact and follow directions from an adult,” Mauro explains. “So, being able to provide that allows them to learn to self-regulate their bodies, learn responsibility, learn independently, and be ready to learn those academic components when they enter kindergarten. We set the foundation essentially for literacy, math, and their social-emotional development.”

Until 2021, ASD had 23 general education preschool classrooms at elementary schools across Anchorage and Eagle River, each serving 17 students. Funds from the Anchorage alcohol tax, which ASD leveraged with an Alaska Children’s Trust grant, enabled the district to add six additional classrooms for the 2021-22 school year, Mauro says; another two classrooms are planned for the 2022-23 school year. 

Preschool as Prevention

The benefits of preschool attendance go beyond just academics, particularly for children from at-risk families or those who have experienced trauma. Preschool attendance helps prevent child abuse and neglect and can break family cycles of trauma, both of which negatively impact brain development and can affect the child long-term.  

“Preschool is more than them coming to school every day; we have to be able to intervene,” she explains. “We’re serving more at-risk kids, and we know there’s a mental health component, and those families and kids need that. We need that whole wraparound service for [at-risk] families.”

Part of those wraparound services includes an early childhood mental health consultant, who ASD contracted with using alcohol tax funds. The consultant helps teachers be responsive to children who experience trauma, including child abuse and neglect, and refers families to community supports.

None of these new services, Mauro says, would have been possible without alcohol tax funds.

“Without this money, we would be serving fewer children, which has a domino effect,” she says of the impact of the alcohol tax funds. “The more children we can serve in a high-quality preschool program in Anchorage, the better quality of life they’re going to have.”

For more information on ASD’s general education preschool program, including classroom locations and the application, visit https://www.asdk12.org/preschool/gened.