Reprinted from Educating For Employment; Your Guide to Creating Career and Vocational Programs that Work; January 1996.

Rhode Island Students Teach Preschool, Earn College Credits

Warwick, R.I. --- Child development students get practical experience in day care operations, earn college credit and pass on practical skills to their young charges in an innovative Family and Consumer Sciences program at Warwick Veterans' Memorial High School.

"My overall umbrella is combining career skills with service learning," said Marilyn Swierk, the teacher who continues to develop new options for her students, including earning up to six credits toward a degree at the University of Rhode Island.

Students not only work at an in-school preschool, they spend a few hours each week during their senior year working in community day-care centers and pre-schools and occasionally teaching kindergarten and first-grade children. The students also are active in the FHA/HERO (Future Homemakers of America/Home Economics Related Occupations) club in the school. "We're training the kids in child development to deal with different ages," Swierk said.

Tougher Requirements to Earn College Credit

College Credit is based on students' skills in the lessons they develop for preschool, their hours in the classroom, preparation time and actual time at a field site. Some students are allowed to skip a physical education class once a week to do their field work. Student must keep a log documenting what was taught that day, how well a child did and then break down the child's physical, mental and emotional state for that day. Students must keep a B average to earn the credit.

The university charges the high school students $50 for three credits and $75 for six credits, but Swierk obtained a community service grant from the Feinstein Foundation that she has used to offset the students' tuition costs. She has 19 students now working toward college credit.

The Northern Rhode Island Cooperative Extension Service offers teacher training for the college-level child development classes. Swierk secured the relationship with the university two years ago; now more than 10 teachers at other schools are taking the training so their students can work toward college credit.

Ins and Outs of the In-School Preschool

Here's how Swierk's in-school preschool --called Little 'Canes Prep School because the high school mascot is the hurricane -- operates:

Students at least 3 years old and toilet trained enroll for an 8- to 10-week session for which their parents pay $30 to cover supplies. Swierk's regular departmental budget covers most of the costs, but she holds yard sales and other sales to aid the operations.

The children come for three hours twice a week, and each session includes art, music, literacy, special events, games and exercise. The high school students are assigned a subject and must develop a lesson tied to the theme of the day.

The themes are another area where Swierk is determined to make a difference. She calls her plan "Life Skills for Little Ones." The children learn about nutrition, fire safety, staying substance-free, keeping their hearts healthy and helping others.

"It's very easy to integrate into the existing curriculum, and we expose the kids and their parents," Swierk said. When parents pick up their children, they are given a folder containing their child's work and comments on each student's day. Swierk has solicited pamphlets from community agencies addressing each day's topic. She then passes the pamphlet on to the parents.

Her students also use that information to help design their lesson plans. They have performed plays about nutrition, sung songs about the heart and, as Swierk said,"you can do a ring toss based on any theme," but try to scale things down for the preschoolers. While her high school students are gaining STW (School to Work) skills through their experiences, she also makes sure the preschoolers learn something about the working world.

"A lot of people think STW is talking about getting a kid ready for a particular career, but that's not true," Swierk said. "It's getting them the skills to enter the work force -- being courteous and on time and working together. I don't think preschoolers are too young to learn that."

Six of her students are interns who take a double block of child development classes so they can simulate the ownership of a day-care center. They plan out a month of activities and receive asistance from other day care centers.

Students in child development spend three hours per week at a field site. Swierk was able to line up participating businesses through the Adopt-a-School program the high school started in the late 1980s. Liability problems were easily solved. If a person is insured to drive a vehicle, they are covered when they drive to their field site. Those who don't drive must get their parent's permission on a form stating that they would be in an insured vehicle. The preschools and day-care centers all had coverage for volunteers coming in, she said.

For more information on "Life Skills for Learning" and forming a good articulation agreement for child development, contact Marilyn Swierk at (401) 884-5510.

Reprinted with permission from Educating For Employment; Your Guide to Creating Career and Vocational Programs that Work; January 1996; copyright 1999 by LRP Publications, 747 Dresher Road, P.O. Box 980, Horsham, PA 19044-0980. All rights reserved. For more information on products published by LRP Publications, please visit Education Administration Online at www.lrp.com/ed or call 1-800-341-7874, ext. 275.

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