Hebron Dollars & Sense

Issue #5: There has been inconsistent or improper application of statistics It was brought to the attention of the Superintendent that by going to the CT Department of Education website, sorting the 2009 CMT results for 3^rd grade and applying known kindergarten program types to each of the schools, reveals relevant information that should be considered.

Issue #4: There has been a misuse of supporting data. This is when a particular piece of data is stated as supporting the full-day Kindergarten option when in fact the data is support for both full-day and half-day Kindergarten or just half-day Kindergarten or something not even relevant to the topic at hand.

In the coming days and weeks, we will be providing information about budget issues facing the town in this tough economy.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Connecticut unemployment rate in December 2009 was 8.9%.  Translation: 1 out of every 12 Connecticut adults who are able to work are unemployed.

Issue #1 (2/2/10) -- The State of Connecticut requires all schools to report numerous testing measures, in fact, the same measures being used now to justify the budget request for all-day kindergarten.

Issue #3: Full understanding of the all-day versus half-day kindergarten topic is compounded by the lack of recognition of telling, scientific findings

The heart of the full-day versus half-day issue, as administrators and academics report it, is “school readiness.” If students are more prepared to learn, then they should be able to learn more. The sooner they are prepared, the better.

Is there a set of skills Kindergarteners need to have to be considered “ready”? Superintendent Cruz states on her blog, “What is measured in Kindergarten and not on the CMT’s, is language acquisition, play, social skills and fine motor skills. Most specifically, vocabulary development, which is not measured on the CMT, is a solid indicator of academic achievement.” So math, reading, and writing skills that are a measure of success starting in third grade, are not the proper measures in Kindergarten according to Superintendent Cruz?

D&S will be outlining the issues in a multi-part series.

Issue #3 of the series will appear on Thursday, February 4.