When the parents are involved there is an even better chance of the students doing well. With research highlighting the importance of early childhood education, Smith, Arlington's superintendent, has made the preschool program one of the cornerstones of his efforts to help immigrant and minority students succeed. It may be one of the more important things we do, and it's been proven to work by researchers. We have also seen the difference. In Ann Purser's Arlington preschool class, those skills are stressed with activities such as dancing with a partner and lessons on helping each other clean up papers strewn about the room after an art class.
Students work together on matching pictures that are pasted up around the room with words.
They also practice saying one another's names. The classrooms are decorated in bright reds and yellows and greens, with bulletin boards that have paper cutouts of snowmen and pancakes and trucks. As Purser jumped up and down during a dance session, one of her students pointed out that he could spot his shadow. Purser had taught the lesson on shadows the previous week. Her student's recall of the lesson made her smile and jump just a little higher.