Kindergarten Readiness Update Curriculum Leaders April 2017 Tammy Mitchell

ALL Kansas Children Ready for Kindergarten Each student enters kindergarten at age 5 socially, emotionally, and academically prepared for success. This is an aspirational goal that will take years to achieve. How will districts move the needle on Kindergarten Readiness to achieve this aspirational goal?

The work to move forward on Kindergarten Readiness draws from evidence-based practices. Early childhood is where most districts think they need to start, but is that really the where the foundational work needs to take place? It might be that your district needs to have leadership engaged or in place for early learning. Maybe relationships need to be built with community service providers (child care, private preschools, Head Start, etc.) and families. Maybe your district already has a pretty robust early childhood program, but are there needs for social/emotional learning? Maybe you didn’t know there are programs for funding snacks and meals for children birth to school age outside of the School Lunch Program. Data and having early learning be part of a district needs assessment is important so that districts can leverage strengths and look for opportunities.

How Are We Going to Get There? Consistent state-wide data for decision making From a state agency perspective, our work starts here. KSDE needs consistent data that shows how many children arrive at kindergarten “ready” and how many do not. This data will be used for making policy and resource decisions.

Kindergarten Readiness Workgroup Amy Blosser, Early Childhood Director, Children’s Cabinet and Trust Fund Jodi Case, USD 448 Inman Barbara Dayal, Preschool and Special Education, KSDE Julie Ewing, English Learners & Title III, KSDE Beth Fultz, Career Standards and Assessments, KSDE Shawna Jones, USD 419 Canton-Galva Tracie Kalic, Migrant Education GOSOSY Director Kim Kennedy, Head Start Collaboration Office, DCF Suzie Legg, USD 500 Kansas City Richard Matteson, Requirements Analyst, KSDE Tammy Mitchell, Kindergarten Readiness & School Improvement, KSDE, Chair Tony Moss, Research and Evaluation, KSDE Monica Murnan, Director of Student Support Services, Greenbush Chelie Nelson, Kansas MTSS Dana Pfanenstiel, ECSE Teacher, High Plains Education Cooperative Tom Sower, USD 500 Kansas City Lisa Stoss, USD 448 Inman Vera Stroup-Rentier, ECSETS Team, KSDE Tami Zillig, Baker University Well over a year ago, this group began meeting at least monthly. The charge was to come up with a way to collect kindergarten readiness data.

Questions Considered What are districts currently using? What are other states using? Do we want to build our own? What information do we want to collect? The group explored and vetted many possible instruments and seriously explored these questions. A probe of about 15 districts of various sizes showed that there wasn’t a tool that was being used consistently. In fact, many districts didn’t have anything at all. None were taking social-emotional readiness into consideration.

Key Ideas Kindergarten Readiness Measuring kindergarten readiness provides a snapshot of where children are upon entry to kindergarten. Kindergarten readiness screening will include communication (language & literacy), problem solving, motor, and social emotional areas of development. Families and caregivers will be engaged in gathering information about their child’s development and early childhood experiences prior to kindergarten. The workgroup arrived at these key ideas.

A Kindergarten Readiness Snapshot A Hinge – Not a Gate Swings back to inform regarding prior experiences Swings forward to inform effective classroom practices Informs Communities regarding early childhood opportunities Not a gate keeper to “screen” five year olds out of Kindergarten

A Snapshot … Not a Test Snapshot Assessment/Test Looks at developmental milestones Looks at skills acquired Provides a snapshot Is more comprehensive Brief to administer Administration can be lengthy Largely observational in nature Requires individual testing Amy Blosser

Pilot of Ages and Stages Questionnaires ASQ:3 Communication, Gross Motor, Fine Motor, Problem Solving, Personal-Social ASQ:SE-2 Social-emotional; regulate emotions, interact positively with others More information about Ages and Stages Questionnaires can be found at http://agesandstages.com/ ASQ:3 Pilot for University of Oregon with a form that goes through 72 months (6 years).

Participating Districts: 37 Total D0113, Prairie Hills D0247, Cherokee D0252, Southern Lyon County D0253, Emporia D0258, Humboldt D0260, Derby D0266, Maize D0270, Plainville D0283, Elk Valley D0298, Lincoln D0309, Nickerson D0313, Buhler D0342, McLouth D0345, Seaman D0352, Goodland D0361, Chaparral Schools D0362, Prairie View D0363, Holcomb D0377, Atchison Co. Comm Sch D0380, Vermillion D0388, Ellis D0389, Eureka D0398, Peabody-Burns D0409, Atchison Public Schools D0416, Louisburg D0418, McPherson D0419, Canton-Galva D0431, Hoisington D0443, Dodge City D0465, Winfield D0475, Geary County Schools D0498, Valley Heights D0500, Kansas City D0501, Topeka Public Schools D0505, Chetopa/St. Paul D0507, Satanta D0509, South Haven

Snapshot Implementation Timeline *Spring 2017 Present recommendation to the Kansas State Board of Education KSDE engages in a Request for Proposal Process A vendor is selected Contract negotiations *Summer 2017 Materials ordered and shipped to every elementary school in Kansas Training of trainers begins *Fall 2017 Phase 1 Training for kindergarten teachers *Spring 2018 Phase 2 Training for kindergarten teachers *Fall 2018 Data collection for approximately 37,000 children upon kindergarten entry Talk a bit about the board presentation. Describe the RFP process. Written and ready to post Publically posted for a minimum of 30 days Reviewed for technical accuracy and cost efficiency Select a vendor It helps to ensure that we select an appropriate vendor. Make sure there is no conflict of interest Negotiating power to ensure the best possible price complete service package (materials, training, online data system, ongoing support) We are working very hard to get it funded at little to no cost to districts. We’ll see…. * To Be Determined

Kindergarten Readiness Fact Sheet Hand out copies of the Kindergarten Readiness Fact Sheet. The Kindergarten Readiness Fact Sheet is newly updated. Here is a copy for you. If you would like more to take with you, we can make sure you receive additional copies.

Available in June!

Proposed English Language Arts Standards http://community.ksde.org/Default.aspx?tabid=6152 New Features: Clear grade-level progressions for each standard Inclusion of Early Learning Standards in progressions document Added clarity regarding what each standard could look like at each grade level Language standards included in progression format to help with integration User-friendly format Interactive links to aid usage

Aligning KSDE early learning programs For too long we have had s

Early Learning Fact Sheet

We Need Your Help If you have questions, ask us. If you hear of others who are misinformed, have them contact us. Stay plugged in through DLS Hot Topics, Director’s calls.

Tammy Mitchell, Assistant Director Questions? Thank you! Tammy Mitchell, Assistant Director tmitchell@ksde.org 785-296-7929 Do we want to add Dean and Ryan to this slide too?