I’m Cathy Doggett. Janice Esau and I make up the Region XIII School Ready Team and support districts with their pre-k programs. I’m here to talk to you about a couple of ways we can help you serve your youngest students.

The first is a tool called “Ready Set K” (direct participants to flyer) Up until now, only grant funded districts have been able to use this tool, but all districts in Region XIII will have the option of purchasing Ready Set K for next school year. Formerly known as the Central Texas Guide to School Readiness (CTGSR), Ready, Set, K, is an online tool that can help your district strengthen its pre-k program in a number of ways.

Assess student progress It is a tool to assess student progress in literacy, math, language, social emotional development, physical development, and science.

Tier I & Tier II Instruction Guide Tier I & Tier II Instruction It is a progress monitoring tool that helps teachers identify gaps in Tier I instruction and to figure out which students need Tier II instruction. The system automatically generates a list of students who need Tier II instruction in various areas.

Pre-k Report Card It is a report card tool. The data teachers enter automatically transfers to a pre-k report card that they can print and send home to parents. The tool is based on the Pre-k Guidelines. Districts that have used the tool, report that it has helped teachers align their teaching with the PreK Guidelines.

Instruction Assessment Planning Ready, Set, K! helps pre-k teachers connect instruction, assessment and planning, which is something we want all teachers to be able to do.

The system also generates reports that can be helpful to you as district leaders. It allows you to compare data across students, teachers, and campuses. This type of data helps you identify areas that need greater focus such as numeracy. Your flyer provides log on information and I encourage you to log on and explore the system for yourself.

New Users Current Users SRL Coop Members $150/class $100/class free The cost is $100 for current users and $150 for new users The cost is per CLASS, so a half day program with 10 teachers would pay $2000. The cost works out to less than $8 per student.

Training Resources Technical assistance The fee includes 1 face to face new user training, 6 online trainings, supportive resources, and ongoing technical assistance.

What questions can I answer about Ready Set K?

The second thing I want to share with you is our new School Ready Back to School Conference that will be held here on August 22, the week before school starts. (direct participants to flyer)

The general session will highlight the importance of prekindergarten as a foundation for future college readiness! Concurrent breakout sessions are aligned to the Texas PreK Guidelines and will include topics such as teacher leadership, shared reading, numeracy, extending books using the senses, classroom management, updated child care standards, and art for children.

This conference is designed for all teachers of three to five year-old children teaching in ISD PreK, Head Start, private preschool, and child care programs. Instructional Aides are welcome to attend, too.

This conference was planned based on a high level of interest you expressed. When we surveyed school ready leaders earlier this year, 14 of you said your districts would definitely be interested and 26 of you said you’d probably be interested in such a conference. The conference was intentionally planned the week before school starts when most districts offer professional development. Often districts only have a few pre-k teachers total or a few per campus and it is difficult to provide them with appropriate meaningful training in district. We hope this conference will help you provide your pre-k teachers with standards based meaningful PD. Districts are encouraged to send their entire pre-k teams as well as any child care staff who work with three- to five-year-olds. Lunch will be provided by Lakeshore Learning Materials.

$65 $85/person $85/person The cost is $85 per person, but you only $65 with code “early bird” before May 31. Pre-K teachers from districts who are members of the School Ready Leadership Coop may attend at no cost.

What questions can I answer?