On March 20, Ashland Source ran an op-ed by Melissa Martin entitled What is different about SPARK Ohio?
We are always pleased when SPARK is mentioned in the news, and we thank Ms. Martin for bringing the program to the attention of the public.
Since she asked, we would like to educate Ms. Martin — and your readers — about exactly what is different about the SPARK kindergarten readiness program.
First, though, we need to point out that, contrary to Ms. Martin’s assertion, SPARK is far from a new program in Ashland County. In fact, SPARK has served Ashland County families since 2014.
Ms. Martin cites our basic program information: that the SPARK home visitor (or parent partner) engages the SPARK family in monthly lessons that are designed to get children ready for school, and that the SPARK team works to address any barriers to readiness so that children arrive at kindergarten eager and ready to learn.
And she mentions SPARK’s effectiveness. We’re proud that SPARK children significantly outscore their non-participating peers on Ohio’s Kindergarten Readiness Assessment.
She asks whether SPARK provides phonics instruction and helps parents use phonics to help children strengthen their preliteracy skills. And indeed, the program does exactly that: SPARK children certainly learn to associate sounds with letters.
But SPARK does so much more than that as well. The program helps families strengthen all of the preliteracy skills their children will need — and all of the math skills their children will need — and the social-emotional skills their children will need.
Indeed, school readiness goes far beyond reading. SPARK aims to arm families with all of the readiness skills their children will need to achieve and succeed in school. That’s what is different — and effective — about SPARK Ohio.
Lastly, Ms. Martin asks, if SPARK works, why not bring the program to all 88 Ohio counties? We could not agree more. We feel every Ohio community could benefit from a SPARK program. And we are working hard to sustain the program and expand it as dollars allow.
We encourage Ashland-area families who might be interested in enrolling in SPARK to fill out the enrollment form at sparkohio.org. And we encourage all those who might be interested in learning about the program — or in bringing it to their community — to learn more by visiting the website or by calling 877-691-8521.
Jennifer Marrah
Ashland SPARK Director
