The Little Patriots Preschool was not supposed to be American High School’s “best kept secret,” but it was so clandestine that it flew under the radar for 12 years.
The early Childhood Education or ECE program at the school is among 12 centers in Miami-Dade Public Schools that allow high-school students who are seeking careers in child care, childhood development, teaching and psychology, to get a head start by working with preschoolers from ages 3 to 5.
The program, based on the Florida Department of Education’s Curriculum Standards and certified by the Florida Department of Children and Families, allows high-school students to acquire hands-on experience, earn college credits and certification to assist younger children outside of school.
The preschool is housed inside a large classroom at American High for 10 preschoolers, one teacher and several high-school students.
They teach their much younger peers a variety of subjects, including early literacy, physical education, math, arts and crafts, science, music and movement, technology, dramatic play and cognitive development.
The ECE Program also allows the high-school students to discern any of the preschoolers’ weaknesses and create additional lesson plans to strengthen their early literacy and prepare them for elementary school.
“The high-school students are actually their teachers,” said Mary Gutterman, American’s ECE program teacher and director for the Little Patriots Preschool. “They are teaching and feeding them, making lesson and transition plans, helping them go to the bathroom and doing positive discipline.”
Gutterman, who’s been an ECE program teacher for 12 years, said a preschool inside a high school building has a lot of benefits for students and preschoolers.
She said they bond better because the younger kids feel closer and comfortable to students a decade older than them and can relate to any of the preschoolers’ learning issues.
“They all love the program,” Gutterman said. “The preschoolers learn from them and the students bond well with them. They know the children and keep in touch with them after high school graduation.”
Diana E. Collingwood, District CTE Supervisor for the Division of Academics Accountability and School Improvement, said American is among 12 Miami-Dade Public High schools with the ECE program.
It shares the same schedule as the public schools calendar, Monday through Friday from 7:15 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., and closes for the holidays and teacher’s planning day.
She often visits the sites and finds the ECE program stimulating.
“The students are the teachers but it’s more like a friendship,” she said. “They help the kids, who are from different cultures, be very creative with learning, fun and games. The high-school students just add quality to the preschool program.”
She said the preschoolers benefit from the wide range of high caliber lesson and project planning required by high-schools students.
During the four-year program, students must complete the Early Childhood Professional Certificate (ECPC) through the DCF.
The students are also mandated to complete the ServSafe (Certified Professional Food Protection Manager) industry certification testing requirements, and pass an exam for a Child Development Association national certification, Collingwood said.
The program is comprised of 120 hours of classroom instruction, 480 hours of direct work with preschool age children and includes the DCF Introductory Child Care Training.
“The preschoolers and high school students are such great values to the program,” Collingwood said.
Gutterman said the ECE program at American High doesn’t get any exposure in the media, which is why the community has been kept in the dark about a unique program pairing the high-school students with the preschoolers.
“It wasn’t meant to be a secret because the community should know about the ECE program,” she said.
For more information on the Little Patriots Preschool, call Gutterman at 305-557-3770 ext. 2279.