Sapulpa Daily Herald, Tuesday, May 13, 2014 –– Page 7

THE SAPULPA DAILY HERALD

Education

AHB-OK.COM MEMBER FDIC

STUDENT OF THE MONTH

Sevier currently holds a 3.6 GPA and is involved

is the student of the month. Jerry Sevier, son of Jeff and Christy Pennington,

Mounds Senior Jerry Sevier

in BSA, NTHS, and Eagle Scouts. After graduating, he plans to intern at Webco and attend OSU IT.

was chosen as the AHB Student of the Month.

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From the Oklahoma Department of HumanServices

More than one-fourth of Oklahoma’s chil-dren under age six reside in counties where therisk of starting kindergarten unready to learn ishigh, yet access to early intervention programsis lower than the rest of the state. That’s accord-ing to a new report released by the OklahomaDepartment of Human Services (DHS).

The report examines 10 risk factors includ-ing poverty, low maternal education, limitedEnglish skills, and child maltreatment—all fac-tors that are known to inhibit children’s braindevelopment and social and emotional skills.County-level risk rankings are compared toenrollments in early education programs, suchas Head Start and Oklahoma’s universal pre-kindergarten, and several child care indicators,including availability of quality care.

Among the report’s key findings:• Of Oklahoma’s 77 counties, 59 have high

rates of children experiencing at least one riskfactor known to inhibit development.

• Approximately 57 percent of the state’s 3 to5 year olds are enrolled in Head Start, with pro-grams located in every county, but only six per-cent of children from infancy to age two areenrolled in Early Head Start, available in only41 counties. Children living in moderately highrisk counties have the lowest rates of enrollmentin Early Head Start.

• Across the state, child care providers withTwo and Three Star ratings, the highest possi-ble, have only enough capacity to serve an esti-mated 48 percent of young children with work-ing parents, with the largest gap between capac-ity and demand in high risk counties.

• For most counties, enrollments in earlyeducation programs increase with risk levels,but the same is not true for the six child care

indicators examined. In general, there are nodifferences in child care reach among riskgroups.

• Although enrollment of children with childcare subsidy benefits in quality care is highacross the state at 94 percent, it is lowest in highrisk counties.

“The findings show stronger investments areneeded in many counties to increase the avail-ability of quality early education and childcare,” said Leslie Blazer, DHS Director ofChild Care Services. “Offsetting the impact ofnegative circumstances is critical not only to thestate’s economic future but also to the overallquality of life in Oklahoma.”

Considerable research shows quality earlylearning and child care programs have positivebenefits for children’s long-term academic andemployment outcomes. Such programs reducethe need for remedial education and increase thepotential for high school graduation and collegeenrollment. Early interventions also have beenassociated with decreased reliance on publicassistance programs and the likelihood of incar-ceration.

The DHS report is the first of its kind forOklahoma. It is designed to be a data-drivenresource for policymakers and community lead-ers to better target resources to children most inneed and monitor outcomes of policies andinvestments. The report was partially funded bya Child Care Administrative Data Analysisgrant awarded to DHS by the Administration forChildren and Families, a division of the U.S.Department of Health and Human Services, andSmart Start Oklahoma. It will be updated annu-ally to monitor trends in county risk levels andavailability of early intervention services. Acopy of the report is available by emailingNaneida Lazarte Alcala atNaneida.LazarteAlcala@okdhs.org

Students of the Month

SUBMITTED PHOTOLONE STAR BRAVES announced April Students of the Month included EdieTillery, Brady Powers, Jazlinn Tarin, Kaylee Boren, Mateo Cruz, Karley Alvarez,Maliea Carver, Camden Steele, Brooklin Latham, Joseph Melott, TrentonWhittaker, Alina Enright, Cylie Johnson, Layla Foley, Lane Watt, Kyler Holt,Naniloa Michael, Katie Factor, Reanna Spears, Faith Whitehouse, Emily Prescott,D.J. Tuttle, Libby Watson, Mickey Cook, Jeremy Tolle, Devon Tuttle, LaJuanHughes, Christian McCaslin and Retha Laster.

MITCH ALCALA PHOTOINDUCTEES. Students from Sapulpa High School were inducted into the NationalTechnical Honor Society on Monday, May 5 at the Sapulpa Central Tech Campusinclude, from left, front row, Douglas Dalton, Morgan Troxell, Colton Trowbridge,Austin Britton; middle row, James Dean, Terrance Moates; back row, AlexisHarris, Leslie Loya and Heather Leaton.

National Technical Honor Society

DHS studies preschool programs, school readiness

Schools receive technology grants

From the OETT

Students at 19 Oklahomapublic schools will experiencelearning in new and innovativeways thanks to more than $1.2million in grants from theOklahoma EducationalTechnology Trust (OETT).

Established to provide thelatest technologies and teachertraining to Oklahoma schools,OETT has awarded each of the19 schools $40,000 to pur-chase new technology equip-ment and $25,000 for profes-sional teacher development.Each school will use the fundsto purchase items such astablets, interactive white-boards, laptops and digitalcameras. Teachers will alsoreceive monthly professionaldevelopment opportunities tolearn how to operate and usethe technology to enhanceclassroom learning.

The schools receivinggrants are Beggs High School,Belle Isle Enterprise MiddleSchool, Oklahoma City,Bristow Middle School, ElkCity High School, ElmoreCity-Pernell ElementarySchool, Fairland ElementarySchool, Frederick Middle

School, Jefferson EarlyChildhood Center, McAlester,Mannford Elementary School,Minco Public Schools,Peavine Public Schools,Piedmont IntermediateSchool, Sallie GillentineElementary School, Hollis,Southmoore High School,Springer Public Schools,Waller Middle School, Enid,William Gay Early ChildhoodCenter, McAlester, WilsonArts Integration Elementary,Oklahoma City and YukonHigh School.

“Through the OETT grants,we are focused on creatinglong-term change in ourschools,” said Dr. PhilBerkenbile, OETT Board ofTrustees chair. “Our goal is toimprove overall studentachievement and learningthrough the use of technolo-gy.”

Since the grants were firstawarded in 2003, a total of 207Oklahoma schools havereceived OETT grants. Inaddition, more than 6,500teachers, principals and super-intendents have received pro-fessional development trainingto assist their students with thenew technology.

The mission of theOklahoma EducationalTechnology Trust is to equipOklahoma common andCareerTech students with thetechnology and technologicalskills necessary to compete inthe global marketplace. Thetrust provides funds for equip-ment, infrastructure, leader-ship and professional develop-ment to implement andadvance integration of tech-nology into classroom instruc-tion.

OETT was established in2001 as a result of an agree-ment between then-attorneygeneral, Drew Edmondson,and AT&T Oklahoma, relatingto the company’s transition toa modernized form of regula-tion. As part of the agreement,AT&T contributed $30 millionto OETT. The trust has distrib-uted almost $16 million todate.

OETT is administered byCommunities Foundation ofOklahoma and professionaldevelopment is coordinatedthrough the University ofOklahoma’s K20 Center. Foradditional information, visitwww.oett.org.

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