When the School Board passed a board policy on transitional kinder last March, Board Member Kim Kenne asked if the District was planning to direct students who were kinder age to transitional kinder "if we thought they needed to be in a two year program, and what the District would use as criteria to make that decision (parent choice, pre-assessment, other)." The Board deferred these decisions to staff, and Kenne followed up with Chief Academic Officer Brian McDonald and Executive Director for Elementary Education Kathy Onoye.
Kenne shared with PEN the specific questions she posed, along with Dr. Onoye's responses.
Q: Are we going to direct kinder age students to TK if we feel they need a 2 year program? If we do, what will it be based on? An assessment?
A: Yes. According to the TK guidelines, it is a local decision. We will develop an assessment for TK. Students who are needing TK and do not fall into the birthday criteria but regular kinder can be enrolled in TK with parent permission by signing the two year continuance form. The assessment is being discussed. It would not be solely focused on academics. It will include social emotional criteria.
Q: If we do an assessment, when will that assessment be given? Now, as parents register their students?
A: We have time to make adjustments in placement during the first month of school. The initial assessments would be in the Fall.
Q: Will we create an Administrative Regulation (AR) to capture this implementation plan?
A: Yes, the ARs will capture the assessement of students and the type of assessment.
Q: If we don't assess students until fall, does that mean we won't be able to quantify how many TK students we have until then?
A: We don't know until the first day of school the exact number of students in kindergarten. We have some registrations from the Kindergarten Round Up. We will do more marketing and we have had many parents asking about TK. The TK program is put on the largest elementary sites to ensure that there are enough students for the teacher ratio. The School Readiness Act allows for blended programs but we have identified teachers who know developmental programs and want this to be the focus for our younger students.
Q: How will we ensure sufficient capacity for the TK program if we don't know how many students could end up in TK until fall (and also won't know which schools they will be enrolled at)? It seems like this might introduce quite a bit of movement of students that will potentially affect all schools and their K programs as well.
A: In the large elementary schools, we have 4-5 kindergarten classes currently. A quarter of the students would fall in the younger category. We anticipate some adjustment but this is normal as we begin school. Some of the smaller schools have only a few students who can be placed in a TK class in a nearby school. The program is an option for parents and we are encouraging all students to enroll.
Q: Will the Administrative Regs (ARs) with the implementation details be complete prior to the opening of school/mid-August?
A: Our planning team is working on the logistics of the program. The ARs will be addressed possibly in the summer but our focus is currently on recruitment and planning curriculum, teachers, assessments, etc.
