Just 11 spots remain in the preschool program scheduled to start at Mamie Martin Elementary in August.

This will be the first year for the program, which is open to  3- and 4-year-olds throughout the county, said Mamie Martin principal Rob McCreary. Its goal is to prepare students now for the state’s gateway test for third graders.

The maximum number of students accepted will be 100. The three-year-old program has a waiting list, he said.

The classes will be led by licensed instructors.

“In the past, we’ve done the pre-school, but not with teachers who were actually licensed in the state of Mississippi,” he said.

Previously, teachers were trained and had a license to run a daycare-type facility.

This program will follow the Mississippi Department of Education’s guidelines for preschool.

“It will be the only MDE-certified preschool in Lincoln County,” he said.

The program will allow educators to teach young students the reading skills they’ll need when they enter kindergarten and first grade so that they’ll be prepared to pass the state’s Gateway testing for third-graders.

Gov. Phil Bryant’s “Third Grade Gate” literacy measure will improve literacy achievement by ending social promotion of third-grade students who are not reading on grade level. The measure allocates resources to schools to screen students’ literacy skills and provide those who are struggling with additional reading help, including the assistance of trained reading coaches. K-3 teachers and administrators will participate in training on best practices for reading instruction.

“Our 4-year-olds will take the early literacy test like the kindergartners do and will be gauged by the state,” McCreary said.

Instructors will look at the students’ progress at the beginning, middle and end of each 9-week period.

Then they can show parents “where their children are growing, what their strengths are and what those things are they can work on their children with. And we’ll try to build them to get them ready so that when they get to kindergarten, they are ready to go when they hit 5-years-old,” he said.

Educators want every third-grader in Brookhaven scoring at the third-grade level on the Gateway by third grade, he said. “That’s the ultimate goal of why we are doing this in the district,” he said.

Students will be introduced to social play and will work on following schedules. They’ll learn systems and patterns and how to get along with others, he said.

“A lot of people will tell you that the way to get a child reading by third-grade is to take the time to catch them up if they’re not there by kindergarten,” he said. “You’ve got to really get them going those first three to four years. Just being able to use new words and being introduced to new words is just an amazing thing to get those kids ready.”

School days for the voluntary program, which costs $200 per month, will be 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. However, the school will offer an after-school program until 5:30 p.m. each day at no additional charge, he said. At 3 p.m. each day, an after-school staff takes over. The school already runs an after-school program at Mamie Martin, but the 3- and 4-year-olds will be kept separate.

Public transportation will not be provided for the preschool program.

Tuition was cut from $350 to $200 per month. “We wanted to make it affordable as possible to get a preschool education to prepare our students,” he said.

Breakfast in the program is optional. It’s $1.50 per day. Lunch is $2.50 or students can bring their own.

The school provides a snack.

McCreary sees this program as a way to prepare children in Brookhaven for the third-grade assessment tests, which will determine whether students must repeat the third grade.

“We’re trying to make a big move,” he said.

McCreary said kindergartners two years ago scored below the state average on the early literacy test. “We knew at that point we needed to do something that not only incorporated good vocabulary skills but also good phonics skills in order to let those children be able to attack those words as they’re reading. We’ve incorporated those things at the kindergarten level and this year we were seven points above the state average,” he said. “So we feel that, in combination with a preschool, will help us in the next several years to really grow. Our goal is to have 100 percent of our third graders to pass the Gateway.

“We feel like the things we’ve already put in place in kindergarten in conjunction with what we’re putting in place with preschool right now, is really going to pull our kids forward. We feel like we need to build at this level to grow them to third grade.”

McCreary said their goal is to have every third grader in Brookhaven reading at a third-grade level. The district is currently at 91 percent for their third graders.

“We want every kid in Brookhaven to be a productive citizen,” he said. “To be a productive citizen, you’ve got to be able to function in society, and reading is the base of that. If your child can’t read, they can’t function in what they’re doing every day.”

About 70 percent of the students enrolled in the program are in the Brookhaven School District.

McCreary wants to see those last 11 spaces filled by the middle of July so they can get started in early August. “We’re very excited about it,” he said. “We’ve got some great teachers who are vey excited and we’re ready to go.”

For more information, call 601-833-0007.