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Kindergarten Readiness

Printed From: MiddletownUSA.com
Category: Middletown City Schools
Forum Name: School Board
Forum Description: Discuss the board individually and as a group.
URL: http://www.middletownusa.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=1930
Printed Date: Nov 23 2024 at 11:15am


Topic: Kindergarten Readiness
Posted By: Vivian Moon
Subject: Kindergarten Readiness
Date Posted: Sep 12 2009 at 4:30pm

I’m working on another little project
What do you think we can do to improve these scores?

MIDDLETOWN — Most Middletown children entering kindergarten need extra help in some areas of literacy, according to recently released state test scores.

On average, most Middletown children score midrange on an initial measure of their oral language skills, rhyming, letter identification and alliteration.

The test — called the Kindergarten Readiness Assessment for Literacy, known as the KRA-L — is given to every student in Ohio within four weeks of starting school.

Last year, Middletown children scored 17.58 out of 29, up slightly from 16.49 in 2005.

Kindergarten Readiness Assessment 2008 – 2009
All scores are out of 29 points
Miller Ridge……….……20.94
Creekview………….…….18.76
Central Academy…..…18.60
Wildwood…………………18.35
Highview…………………..18.00
Rosa Parks………………..16.48
Mayfield…………………..15.37
Amanda……………………..14.71


Replies:
Posted By: VietVet
Date Posted: Sep 12 2009 at 5:27pm
" What do you think we can do to improve these scores?"

Suggestions- At all elementary schools, designate two or three times a week, after school from 6PM to 8PM- gather some reading volunteers + voluntary reading staff, gather the parent(s), the students at the schools and conduct reading classes. Looks like, from the school data breakouts, that we have some of the poorer performances coming out of the lower income neighborhoods.

OR

At each elementary school, have the students remain after school for additional reading tutoring and make the school day an hour or two longer. Parents might object- after work, have them come to the classroom to help their child read and take them home after additional class.

OR

Have elementary schools compile an instructional DVD for the child to learn at home and keep the parents off the school's back for altering their schedule. Problem is, parent(s) might not make the child sit down and watch and practice with the video. No guarantee here.

OR

Have Saturday school reading options with the parent(s) bringing the child to their elementary school to participate and to monitor their child's reading skills. So as not to pay overtime to the teachers, have the instructors be qualified volunteers. Perhaps able seniors would participate. JMO



Posted By: rngrmed
Date Posted: Sep 13 2009 at 4:06am
Talawanda School District qualifies for Title 9 money which they have a teacher just to teach reading for children that have a need.  Does Middletown do this? 
Talawanda almost scored perfect on their state tests, so that isn't a reason why Middletown would not qualify.

Posted By: Vivian Moon
Date Posted: Sep 13 2009 at 5:14am

What is the Kindergarten Readiness Assessment-Literacy? (KRA-L)
The KRA-L is a short assessment that will be given to all kindergarten children.

Test must be given before October 1
Children will sit and work with the teacher.  

The KRA-L is made up of activities that include:

• Answering who, what, when, why and how questions;

• Repeating sentences;

• Identifying words that rhyme;

• Giving a word that sounds the same as another word (rhyming production);

• Identifying letters; and

• Listening and identifying the beginning sounds of words.
 The six skills were selected to assess because developing them is important to becoming a good reader.
For more information go to:
http://www.southwestschools.org/crosby/danner/KRAL/whatiskraland%20kindrgartenreadinesslist.htm

Posted By: smithde3
Date Posted: Sep 13 2009 at 6:46pm
As your principals have discussed with you, to increase the uniformity of our entire system, the grading scale that all teachers will be using this year is

90-100        A
80-89.49      B
70-79.49      C
60-69.49      D
0-59.49        F

For those students whose IEP is written requiring a modified grading scale, there will be only one modified grading scale in use this year. The scale is as follows

81-100       A
72-80.49    B
63-71.49    C
56-62.49    D
0-55.49      F

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Posted By: Hermes
Date Posted: Sep 13 2009 at 7:39pm
Ok call me stupid,ignorant whatever, but I thought kindergarten was to prepare kids for the following regular school.
 
Why do they need to be rocket scientist before they ever get to the first grade ?


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No more democrats no more republicans,vote Constitution Party !!

Posted By: Vivian Moon
Date Posted: Sep 14 2009 at 6:51am

Hermes
You and I just assume that these young mothers with children know what they need to do to train their children in basic life skills. I'm sorry to tell you they do not. I have mentored several young mothers in recent years and you wouldn't believe how many things they really don't know how to do or simple problems they don't know how to solve. All of these problems follow the children into the classroom and make it more difficult for them to learn.

Therefore I believe that we need to start impacting these childrens lives in preschool or the Head Start Program.

Posted By: Hermes
Date Posted: Sep 14 2009 at 11:03am
I agree Vivian,I think learning starts at home and should continue. But it sounds like from the original posting that kids should know how to read before they get to pre-school. I'm all for teaching them young but how young is to young ? And isn't that what pre-school is for ? Teaching them and preparing them for whats to come ?

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No more democrats no more republicans,vote Constitution Party !!

Posted By: VietVet
Date Posted: Sep 14 2009 at 11:56am
Vivian- sad thing is that these young mothers were brought up through this school system which didn't do them any favors by passing them through the system just to purge them and the parents of the young mothers did them no favors by failing to do their part about teaching them about life's expectations(life's skills) to succeed. The perpetual cycle continues when these youg mothers who weren't taught properly, pass this on to their kids .... and on and on it goes. Somehow, someway, society needs to break the cycle for the person to change by filling in the void that the parents and schools provided. Otherwise, ........

Posted By: Vivian Moon
Date Posted: Sep 14 2009 at 4:57pm
Vet
Many of these young ladies did not have a mother in their lives and therefore did not learn any life skills. We give them food stamps and assume that they know how to buy and cook a meal.  It took me a year to teach them how to make their food stamps last the entire month. We assume they know how to do laundry and sew a button on a shirt. We assume they know how to solve simple health and social problems with their children.
They really don't know they should be reading a book a week to their children while they are young or teach their children to sit still and listen...and the list goes on and on...we just assume they know how to break the cycle that they are in.   

Posted By: Vivian Moon
Date Posted: Sep 15 2009 at 7:54am
From Early Education at http://www.earlyeducation.org/ - http://www.earlyeducation.org/
 

Early Education/Universal Preschool

A federally supported universal preschool program would ensure that quality preschool education is available to every child in America. Such a program would promote school readiness by providing all children with the early education necessary to begin school ready to learn. Studies of high-quality early childhood programs demonstrate that they are especially beneficial to children from economically disadvantaged households. In addition, a universal preschool system would help meet the growing demand for child care that stems from the increasing proportion of families that have both parents in the workforce.

http://www.earlyeducation.org/## -

Future Success

Far too many American children enter school without the early learning necessary to succeed in school. Although public education has historically been viewed as an equalizing institution, educational inequality usually begins before children enter school. According to the Children’s Defense Fund, children from low-income households enter school with one-fourth of the vocabulary of middle-class students. By the time he or she enters first grade, a middle-class child has gained approximately a 20,000-word vocabulary; in contrast, a child from low-income household has gained only a 5,000-word vocabulary.



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