Two weeks ago, I attended the 2022 Early Childhood Leadership Summit in Phoenix. The group is a bipartisan gathering from all 50 states.

This meeting has four objectives: 1) identify current challenges and opportunities in the field of early childhood education; 2) support the needs of infants; 3) Build a strong early childhood workforce. 4) Identify the state of the childcare industry.

The conference was led by Dr. Dan Wuori of the Hunt Institute, based in North Carolina. The Hunt Institute creates a meaningful platform to support policy on education from birth to the workforce.

During the conference, we discussed common experiences and techniques used across the country, and national experts provided educational policy. The summit was attended by state legislators, superintendents of education, higher education leaders and directors of early childhood education institutions.

The Summit was put together to identify ways to promote brain balance in young children. This study shows that in a 3-year-old’s brain, he has millions of neurons firing within a second. This is the ideal time to prepare children for early childhood learning.

In addition, studies show that the brain is working to build this vast amount of neurons before birth. , most of which reach maturity by the age of five.

This is why it is so important to us to have programs for children from birth to 3 years old, 3 to 5 years old and 5 to 9 years old.

At the summit, I consulted with former New Mexico Governor Susana Martinez and Missouri Rep. Brenda Shields. Shields and I discussed the techniques used in Missouri and how they compare to what we do in Oklahoma.

She told me about techniques used in early childhood from birth to age 3 in Missouri. These are the techniques I’m considering using in Oklahoma.

I have invited Rep. Shields to speak on my interim study on effective practices for improving test scores in elementary and middle school, scheduled for the House Commons Education Committee on October 13th.

An interim study will discuss effective techniques used by Cottonwood Public Schools, currently the state leader in test scores. I have been involved with this model school in southeastern Oklahoma for many years. This school is his four-day school in the countryside.

We will be talking about this school, especially the four-day school, in another interim survey at the Capitol. The survey he plans to conduct on October 12th. The results of this survey will be summarized in a future column.

As state leaders, I believe we need to constantly look for new ways to improve our education system.

Rep. Randy Randleman (Republican Eufaula) represents the 15th District of the Oklahoma House of Representatives, which includes Haskell, Le Flore, McIntosh, Muskogee, Pittsburgh and parts of Sequoia counties. Randleman can be reached at (405) 557-7375 or randy.randleman@okhouse.gov.