Watertown a leader in early childhood programs
By Dan Atkinson/ Staff Writer

Watertown TAB & Press, Massachussettes
Feb 18 2005

About 18 months ago, Maral Karamousayan had a problem. Her oldest
children were preparing to enter kindergarten, but Karamousayan, an
Armenian originally from Syria, was concerned about their ability
to read and speak English. She heard from a friend about a free
twice-weekly program that helped children with their reading and
signed up.

Now, she said, her children have gone from not speaking any English
to using it all the time, and reading “is the best thing in the house.”

Karamousayan is participating in the Parent Child Home Program,
one of several early childhood education programs in Watertown.
Although Watertown is much smaller than neighboring communities such
as Newton and Waltham, it receives nearly $750,000 in grants from the
commonwealth for early childhood programs, despite cuts in funding
over the past few years. Newton receives about $835,000 in state
grants for early childhood education, and Waltham gets about $118,000.

Watertown’s five state-funded early childhood programs are a model
for other communities because of their interrelation, according to
Anne Hardiman, Watertown’s early childhood coordinator.

“We try to work as a whole council, not separate entities,” Hardiman
said. “One grant feeds out of another grant.”

The programs cover a range of ages and subjects. The Watertown Family
Network helps parents of newborn children with child development;
Community Partnerships for Children oversees preschool education; the
Quality Full-Day Kindergarten Grant helps maintain small classroom
sizes and all-day classes for kindergarteners; and Even Start and
the Parent Child Home Program focus on reading.

The grant programs and other private programs are holding an Early
Childhood Information Fair on Saturday, March 9, from 9:30 to 11:30
a.m. at Watertown Middle School, 68 Waverley Ave.

The Parent Child Home Program sends volunteers and staff members to
about 20 families in Watertown over two-year periods, said program
director Beth Fagan. The “modelers” bring books and educational toys
to the family twice a week and talk about them with a parent and
the child participating in the program, although the family’s other
children are encouraged to participate as well.

The program is less focused on pure literacy than teaching children to
relate books to the real world, Fagan said. The modeler, and eventually
the parent, will use the books’ illustrations and toys to let the child
make connections between text and objects in the child’s home. Not
only does the process improve reading skills, it teaches them learning
skills they need help the school system as a whole succeed, Fagan said.

“A child who goes to school ready to learn is an asset to the
community,” she said. “But if the same kid goes to school ready to
learn but the kid next to him can’t read and is acting up in class,
both are harmed.”

Fagan said the program’s goal is to “encourage a love of books,”
and Karamousayan said her children have taken their reading to
heart. Her 6-year-old daughter, Anais, reads bedtime stories,
with Karamousayan’s help, to her younger siblings. Her son, Mike,
was a year old when the family began the program in September 2003,
and now brings books into the room when Kathy Kopp, the family’s
modeler, comes by on her twice-weekly visits.

However, the program was cut from the state budget in 2002 after
receiving a grant for $80,000 the previous year, and was restored
in 2003 at $40,000 of funding, Fagan said. To match funding, Fagan
has gotten donations from the Watertown Savings Bank and the O’Neill
Properties Fund, which was created by the sale of the Arsenal on the
Charles to Harvard University.

All of the programs have been cut in recent years, Hardiman
said. Although the cuts often run statewide, they have a harsher
impact in Watertown, according to Watertown Family Network Director
Arlene Smith.

“It’s eye-opening how much this is really needed,” she said.
“Watertown has a lot of people from outside the United States who
are here because their partner is getting a degree or working on an
internship, and they face uncharted territory when they’re raising a
child and oftentimes don’t speak [English]. We still hear from people
about how we’ve made a big difference in their lives.”

Karamousayan is fluent in English, but said she was still shy about
reading aloud before she started the Parent Child Home Program.
Now she is reading “Charlotte’s Web” to Anais, and is more involved
in the community through the Watertown Family Network. She takes Mike
to play group every Tuesday and music class on Friday at the family
center. Fagan said people like Karamousayan show the usefulness of
Watertown’s early childhood programs, and are good arguments for
increased funding

“Success breeds success,” she said. “If a grant program is doing well
in the community, it shows the community knows how to use the money.”

Dan Atkinson can be reached at datkinso@cnc.com.