Pre-schoolers get a jumpstart on education through AmeriCorps program

The lights are off. Desks are arranged in a circular formation and a giant sheet drapes over furniture as a tent. Beneath the canopy, the children tightly grip their flashlights, attentive to their leader. They are captivated by the ghost story he reads aloud. To an outside observer, the scene looks more like a campsite than a classroom.

Through Jumpstart, an AmeriCorps program, Tufts students get the chance to use such innovative teaching methods. Participants pair up with three to five year old children, to help them, one-on-one, develop language, literacy, and social skills. The volunteers also work with the children's families to form strategies for the children's development and encourage them to play an active role in the children's education.

While working for Jumpstart, senior Anabella Nieves set up the "campsite" described above. Since young children are easily distracted by toys and less fascinated with books and study, Nieves and the other college students tried to make the learning itself an imaginative game. As desired, the game quickly increased the children's interest in reading.

"They actually paid attention for 56 minutes," Nieves said. "To see three to five year olds sit there and listen to a book was amazing."

On Sept. 11, 2002 Jumpstart members were featured on MTV as examples of the increased kindness and generosity that students have displayed toward others since the terrorist attacks of last year. MTV showed footage of Jumpstart sites from New York and Boston, including clips where Tufts students were shown working with their students.

As the MTV special suggested, Tufts participants in Jumpstart also find personal satisfaction and enrichment in changing the lives of other people. "To leave the bubble of Tufts and make an impact on the community, and to feel like you're a part of that community, is a great feeling," Nieves said.

This year, 50 students will serve as Jumpstart Tufts Corps volunteers, joining more than 1,500 college students from 50 different colleges and universities across the country. Every week, eight Jumpstart members meet twice a week for two hours with eight three to five-year-old partners to practice various skills. Members also participate in their children's classroom on a weekly basis and attend additional Future Teachers team meetings to discuss the group sessions, train, and plan.

Formed in 1993, Jumpstart was two college students' answer to the problem of school failure that stemmed from many students initial lack of basic communication, language, and literacy skills upon kindergarten entry.

A 1993 study by the Michigan-based High Scope Foundation showed that 50 percent of children from low-income communities started first grade up to two years behind their peers in pre-school skills. Often compared to Head Start, a national program providing numerous developmental services for low-income, pre-school aged children, Jumpstart offers the additional support of a one-on-one relationship.

This type of program enables highly-trained college students to provide pre-school age children with resources necessary for school success: literacy skills, family involvement, and personal interaction with a mentor. Jumpstart focuses on urban and low to middle-income children, whose teachers have identified them as needing extra help.

The Jumpstart program prepares its members for service through extensive training that covers teaching methods and child development. These training sessions are meant to provide the basics and best practices of early childhood development and focus on active learning, adult-child interactions, public presentation and community understanding. The program begins with an intensive weekend of training; another training weekend occurs in the winter.

Many members intend to be teachers or are child development majors. These students learn essential information and get hands-on practice in the teaching field. Moreover, all members get the chance to form close bonds with children and significantly help them develop.

"It almost seemed like more of an educational experience for me than it was for them," senior Matthew Bennett said.

Results have shown that Jumpstart is effective in helping children to succeed. The Jumpstart pamphlet indicated that while Jumpstart students were behind regular students at the beginning of the year, by the end of the year they are likely to catch up or even surpass their peers.

For the college mentors, watching this progress is extremely rewarding. "It's cool to see a kid who lacks confidence come out of his shell," senior Michael Plunkett said.

Tufts Jumpstart recently partnered with the University College of Citizenship and Public Service, and will promote the college's goals to create effective community leaders. Like the UCCPS, Tufts Jumpstart will support Chinatown by placing some members in a Head Start program in that community.

"It's one of the best things I've done at Tufts," Nieves said. "It's beyond being in a classroom. You're actually changing people's lives and making an impact."