Wendy Sims-Moten: I’m happy to sit down and discuss early childhood development with Matthew Quirk, associate professor in the Gevirtz Graduate School of Education at UC Santa Barbara. Matt has been a key member of local efforts to ensure all children are ready for school.
Matthew, tell us a little about your journey to Santa Barbara.
Matthew Quirk: Before I enrolled in my Educational Psychology doctoral program at the University of Georgia, I taught 4 year olds in preschool. While in graduate school, I taught second-grade remedial reading classes at a local elementary school, teaching second-grade students from families experiencing economic difficulties.
These experiences shaped my interests in literacy (as a tool for social justice — kids can’t access education nor their dreams or goals without being literate) and also gave me insights into the importance of very early intervention.
If you don’t get to kids by the time that they are in first or second grade, the chances of making any meaningful changes in their educational trajectories are extremely slim. Now, I realize that we really need to be getting to children (and their families) as close to birth as possible to really make a difference.
All of these experiences have driven my research interests in school readiness, the importance of preschool, and the need for early intervention that addresses the needs of both the children and their families.
WSM: What impact does poverty have on child development and eventual academic achievement?
MQ: I don’t think that the impact poverty has on child development and eventual academic success can be overstated. It can have significant impacts on all aspects of a child’s development, including mental and physical health, safety, security, sleep, access, language exposure, etc.
When any of these fundamental needs are not being met, it is difficult (if not nearly impossible) for children to focus on academic development.
In addition, many of these disadvantages have cascading and cumulative effects on all aspects of a child’s functioning and development.
WSM: What connections do you see between later academic achievement and engagement and high quality early care and education?
MQ: I believe that early care and education are necessary but not sufficient for ensuring children’s later academic engagement and success. The research is fairly clear that children from all backgrounds benefit from at least some preschool experience (or high-quality early care) prior to school entry and that these experiences are particularly important for children from families experiencing economic hardships.
However, these experiences only provide a foundation for schools and communities to build upon. If additional monitoring and supports are not provided, then the advantages yielded from early care will not be sufficient to carry many children through the ongoing challenges they will face through childhood and adolescence.
Thus, I feel it is every community’s responsibility to ensure that all children have access to high-quality early care and education, but that this is not the end of our responsibility.
WSM: At First 5 Santa Barbara County, we see some fantastic ways communities have stepped up for children 0-5 and their families. What has impressed you lately?
MQ: I am very excited about the dual-language immersion (DLI) program that is being started at Canalino Elementary School in Carpinteria.
Unfortunately, there are not many programs like this (yet) available in our local schools. The research is fairly clear that this approach is beneficial for both English learners and native English speakers who are interested in becoming bilingual.
Given that most of the achievement gaps that persist in our community are between English learners and native English speakers, I feel that implementing more of these types of programs in our community would provide greater access and opportunity to Latino/a children while also giving an amazing opportunity to native English-speaking children to become bilingual and biliterate.
WSM: Parents often come to us concerned that they aren’t able to speak English fluently to their child at home and worry about grammatical errors.
MQ: All language exposure is good for young children, regardless of language or format. Children who are exposed to lots of language (Spanish, English or other) are able to learn at school easier than children with little exposure to language at home. Engaging children with language as much as possible is extremely important to their development and academic success.
WSM: You and your wife have two sons. What habits around language have you built at home?
MQ: We always end our day with 30 minutes where I or my wife read to both of our boys before they head to bed. This allows them time to calm mind and body before going to bed, but it also allows for us to have some quiet family time where we sit together on the couch with a shared focus. Even though our boys can now both read independently, this is still a daily routine and one that I hope will last for at least a few more years.
We also sit down to eat together every night for dinner. This is where we get to talk with our boys daily about school and also to have them share something from the day that they are grateful for. As silly as some of their items are, it is a great way to hear about what they are doing and thinking about, and also helps them to understand the concept of gratitude.
WSM: You’ve invested time in habits. What returns can the community expect to see from their investment in early childhood outcomes?
MQ: I think we are already seeing some of these returns with the increases we have seen in children’s school readiness at kindergarten entry over the past decade across communities in Santa Barbara County.
However, this cannot be viewed as the end. Rather, it is just the beginning. We need to continue to push to get supports to children and families earlier and more often.
For example, more is needed to understand what types of preschool programs are most effective at supporting children from different backgrounds. Also, we need to continue to develop systems of support within our elementary schools that allow children to sustain (and even build upon) successes yielded from increased readiness at kindergarten entry.
Research has demonstrated that we cannot assume that gains during the preschool years will be maintained without sustained supports across the school years.
Overall, the data are clear that investments in children during the first few years of life and throughout elementary school yield far greater returns than when communities are forced to invest resources to deal with the effects of dropout, crime and unemployment.
WSM: What is something people would find surprising about your work?
MQ: I am surprised by how controversial it can be. I have always aspired to do work with the goal of helping young children achieve better outcomes, particularly for children from communities that have historically struggled in our public school system.
Although this might sound altruistic and relatively straightforward, people have very different (and very strong) opinions about child development and what are the best ways to support children early in their lives. This has taught me to always reflect on my work and its potential impacts on children, families and communities. It has also taught me to listen more and react less.
WSM: Why do you personally work to build a network of support for children and families in Santa Barbara County?
MQ: I truly believe that public education (and access to educational success) is the cornerstone to a thriving democracy. Access to high-quality education should be a right, not a privilege. Although this might sound reasonable to most people, it is a huge challenge and a lot of work remains to make this a reality.
Working at UCSB, I am grateful for the privilege that I have to go to a place every morning where I am surrounded by extremely intelligent, curious and innovative people who are genuinely interested in figuring out many of the problems that we and many other communities are trying to solve.
Combine that with the robust network of nonprofit partners that we have in Santa Barbara and you have quite a lot of resources available to continue this important work.
WSM: Last but not least, let’s talk about this kindergarten picture. Love the hat. What was your favorite part of kindergarten?
MQ: Math. I have always loved math despite my curiosity around language and literacy. I attended kindergarten at a university lab school in Indiana, Pa. It was a public school on a university campus that allowed for innovation and experimentation in the science of education.
I had never thought about this until you asked the question, but I suppose it was fitting given where I ended up professionally.
WSM: We’re happy you ended up here!
— Wendy Sims-Moten is executive director of First 5 Santa Barbara County. Click here for additional columns. The opinions expressed are her own.