Mark Innocenti comments on controversial early childhood education program
Reprinted with permission of
Salt Lake Tribune
April 25, 2009
Author: Lisa Schencker
Brenden Gleason, 4, bobs his head and giggles as his new computer game teaches him about the letter "a" with a song and cartoon about apples falling on a farmer's head.
But Brenden's computer game is actually an at-home education program for preschool-aged children, called UPSTART, that has been dogged by controversy and questions since it was approved by the Utah Legislature. After lawmakers introduced a bill to create the program in 2008, many questioned whether it was written with a specific vendor in mind. Others said the program wasn't the best way to use $2.5 million that could have helped pay for other early childhood programs. Still, others had problems with the way it passed: After failing on the House floor, it returned as part of an omnibus education bill that ultimately passed but is now being challenged legally.
Now, more than a year after lawmakers approved funding, the free program is up and running, earning praise from some and skepticism from others. UPSTART has room for 1,300 kids, including 390 students from low-income families who can also temporarily get computers for free. So far, about 60 percent of the program's slots are filled, said Kathy Maksimov, product management director for Waterford Institute, the Utah-based company that created the game.
Children ages 4 and 5 are supposed to use the program for 15 minutes a day, five days a week, until they enter kindergarten. A cast of cartoon characters guide kids through short exercises about counting, sorting, letter sounds and vocabulary, among other things.
Lawmakers envisioned the program as a cost-effective way to educate young children without taking them out of the home. But the controversy lingers, especially about whether the language of the bill was crafted with Waterford in mind.
Maksimov said Waterford followed all the correct procedures for winning the state contract.
"We put a good solution forward so we were selected to fill this legislation," Maksimov said. Waterford, however, was the only company to apply.
Rep. Bradley Last, R-St. George, who sponsored the original UPSTART bill,
acknowledged this week that the idea for the program came from Waterford. He also said legislative staff met with Waterford before the bill was written.
"When we were trying to figure out how to structure certain things, I'm sure staff got their input as well," Last said.
Still, he said, lawmakers made an "honest effort" to write the bill in a way that would open the program to many vendors.
"The idea came from a certain place, and as it comes together they're somewhat involved in it because they're the ones who made the idea, but we try to meet the requirements of the law and be fair about it," Last said. "I suppose that criticism is always going to be there, and we'll deal with it, and if the program works it will go away, and if it doesn't, maybe we were justly criticized."
And there's still not consensus about whether the program works.
Some families have already started using UPSTART and couldn't be happier about it.
"It's great -- totally interactive," said Brenden's mom, Rebecca Gleason, as her son recently went through his UPSTART exercises for the day -- spelling his name, counting, learning how to read a calendar. She's hoping the program, combined with preschool, will help prepare Brenden for kindergarten, where he will be one of the youngest students in his class. She said her son wakes up in the morning asking when he can use the program.
Parent Jeanne Hock said she's eager for her daughter to start using UPSTART, which is scheduled to arrive at her door any day now. Unlike Brenden, Hock's daughter will be one of the oldest children in her class when she begins kindergarten in fall 2010. Hock's daughter is already 4 years old, and her mom wants to make the most out of the year she has left before kindergarten.
"She really has a love for learning, and I thought, 'Why not feed it?' " Hock said. "If something is free and educational for your child, it can't be all that bad."
But others aren't yet sold on UPSTART. Many early childhood education experts opposed the bill when it first surfaced, saying there were better ways to spend millions of dollars to educate preschool-age children.
"A lot of money was being recommended for basically an approach that has no empirical validation behind it," said Mark Innocenti, associate director of the Early Intervention Research Institute at Utah State University.
Maksimov said the program's effectiveness has been proven in independent studies. She said it's been used by about 4 million children nationwide.
Innocenti said he doesn't question the program's value in the classroom, but doesn't know how effective it will be in the home.
He said what bothers him is the "idea of taking such a large sum of money in such a fiscally tight arena and using it for something where we don't know if it will have any effect at all."
The Utah Education Association also questions whether the program will prove effective.
"The UEA does not believe Utah has the financial wherewithal to commit taxpayer money to unproven, experimental public education programs such as UPSTART," the UEA said in a statement Thursday.
Utah schools face budget cuts of about 5.2 percent for next school year because of state budget woes. UPSTART did not escape unscathed: during September's special legislative session, UPSTART lost $1 million it was supposed to get for one year only. During this past legislative session, lawmakers chopped another $700,000 off the $2.5 million a year program, beginning in fiscal year 2010.
By law, the program must be independently evaluated. Brenda Hales, state associate superintendent, said that evaluation will likely begin in about six months.
Last said if the program doesn't work, lawmakers can eliminate it. But if it does work, it will save money and improve education.
Cheryl Wright, associate professor and chairwoman of Family and Consumer Studies at the University of Utah, said she's looking forward to seeing the results of the evaluation. She originally criticized the bill but now sits on an UPSTART advisory committee.
"It is a funded effort that needs to be carefully evaluated, and we will see how effective it is," Wright said.
lschencker@sltrib.com
