Narishea Parham has been named the new director of early childhood education at the Joseph E. Hill Early Childhood Center for Evanston/Skokie School District 65 after a year with the district and over 20 years in education.
Her new role begins July 1 as she takes over from Sharon Sprague, who will be retiring this year.
Parham originally wanted to work in nursing but after giving birth to her son and becoming, as she describes, his first teacher, it opened a door for her to explore the world of education.
“I’ve always had a feel of wanting to work for the public,” Parham said. “I guess it (education) was technically my first love but I didn’t know it … I always enjoyed school. For lack thereof, I wanted to be the teacher’s pet.”
Part of what drew Parham to early childhood education were the inequities she saw among younger students including students in special education classes being given completely different curriculum than their peers. She helped to tackle these issues at previous positions, elevating one program she ran in Matteson School District 162 until the program received ExceleRate Illinois gold rating, which is awarded to schools that support continuous improvement among early learning providers for three years in a row, according to a news release from District 65.
District 65’s dedication to addressing these inequities for all students, especially those in minority communities, appealed to her, she said, and led her to the district last year.
Along with her experience at D65, which includes her time as assistant principal at Dewey Elementary, Parham brings experience from her eight years at Richton Square School as principal and assistant principal. She described leaving Dewey as bittersweet because she’ll be leaving the students and their families that she grew to connect with but Parham said she is excited to build new connections and stay within the D65 family.
“They were so supportive for my first year coming into the district,” she said. “Any type of way that I needed, they would always want to step up and just making those connections is invaluable to me.”
Parham also holds a bachelor’s degree in elementary education and a master’s degree in education administration from Governors State University with endorsements in early childhood education and as a learning behavioral specialist.
The Joseph E. Hill Early Childhood Center works to help children as young as six weeks to as old as three years prepare for school by helping develop early skills such as letter and shape recognition and fine motor skills. These skills can then be used as foundation for more difficult learning such as critical thinking and analysis skills. The COVID-19 pandemic impacted young children’s ability to learn from and interact with their peers, according to Parham, making the transition to school more difficult for some.
Seeing children who came in on their first day shy and nonverbal blossom into students excited to come in and learn is Parham’s favorite part of the job.
“I can’t even put it into words, it’s an amazing feeling,” she said. “This is why I do what I do.”
She hopes to offer early childhood education opportunities to as many students as she can while also educating parents and the public about the importance of early childhood education. The funding for early childhood education has grown in her over two decades in the profession, something Parham sees as a huge step forward. Parham said that when students come into kindergarten, she has seen large differences between those who had exposure to early education and those who didn’t.
“We are a part of building that solid foundation, that wonder, that curiosity in children,” she said. “Early intervention is the key and exposure early and at a young age is setting students up for success for careers and college and beyond.”
Enrollment at Joseph E. Hill Early Childhood Center is open year round and Parham encourages parents who are interested in the program to reach out to the school by phone or schedule a time to come in to sit in on a class. She plans to continue the work and expand upon what has already been built at the center.
“I’m looking forward to an amazing year and developing the connections with the families and the community and building those partnerships together so that we can do some great work for the district’s youngest students,” Parham said.
