Giving kids a Running Start

Angelique Flores

FOUNTAIN VALLEY -- Daniel Magennis, 6, will start first grade next

month. But he’s still a little behind his peers with his numbers and

sounds.

He’s getting help from a new program -- Running Start.

Fountain Valley School District developed the program, which began

Monday, to give struggling students a boost before the new school year

gets underway.

Young students who have a hard time learning often end up being

mislabeled as having behavioral problems, kindergarten teacher Jan

Johnson said.

“If we catch kids early, we can instill positive reinforcement and

confidence, and don’t see failing later on,” Johnson said.

Sixty-six students who just completed kindergarten, first, sixth and

seventh grades are attending Tamura and Talbert elementary schools over

the next two weeks for the Running Start program. Every teacher of one of

those grades in the district selected a student to be in Running Start.

The district chose the grades because none of the other summer school

programs target this group, said Catherine Follett, the district’s

superintendent of instruction.

“It’s a great way to kick start him into the school year,” said

Elizabeth Magennis, Daniel’s mom.

The younger children focus on pre-reading and reading skills. Older

students work on reading and reading comprehension. In the classes, the

students review what they learned last year and get a taste of what

they’ll be learning next year.

Daniel was getting nervous about going into the first grade, his mom

said. But that anxiety is starting to fade.

“He felt like a big boy because he had homework,” Magennis said.

“Yesterday he thought he was a big shot studying for a test.”

Besides academics, teachers are trying to improve the students’

discipline, responsibility and organizational skills.

“We get kids that don’t speak English, never went to preschool or are

hyperactive,” Johnson said.

The same children, unlike some of their peers who have gone to

preschool for three years, are a step behind academically and socially.

“We have kids failing in the upper grades because they’re not helped

early enough,” Johnson said.

Programs such as Running Start hope to catch children early and keep

them on the right track.