Issue #9: There is a lack of diligence considering alternative measures to achieve desired outcomes. This issue is a bit challenging. Obviously we hoped that desired outcomes would be presented in a more quantifiable manner. But apparently that is not how the Administration and the BOE choose to operate. From the BOE presentations, the public likely concludes that the desired outcome of all-day Kindergarten is “readiness” and the teaching of “literacy, math, science and social studies” because “the standards have changed dramatically for Kindergarten in just the last three years”. In fact the “number of standards required for mastery has increased exponentially” (All quotes are from the Superintendent.)
Before presenting some possible alternative measures to achieve these desired outcomes, it should be stated that most Hebron residents are probably at a disadvantage because the Superintendent has not shown examples of these standards to explain their complexity.
Are the students learning Calculus in Kindergarten now? Anyone who had a child in the half-day Kindergarten program more than three years ago might dust off that old box in the attic with their child’s school work and be surprised to discover that it includes work related to the teaching of literacy, math, science and social studies.
Just a few of the items that the half-day Kindergarten memorabilia box probably includes are:
+ Studies of insects (including identification of the feelers, wings, head, thorax, abdomen and legs) (Science?)
+ Scaly vs. slimy (comparing reptiles and amphibians) (Science?)
+ Is a sea horse really a horse? (Science?)
+ What’s the weather (Science?)
+ Winter out my window (Science and observation?)
+ Wind (Science?)
+ It’s fun learning about the seashore (Science?)
+ Apple observation book (documenting the 1.5 month decomposition cycle of an apple) (Science?)
+ We share the earth with animals, please don’t litter (Science and social responsibility?)
+ What do animals do in the rain? (Science?)
+ Get to know apples using your five senses (Health and Science?)
+ Safe summer fun (Health?)
+ A whole slew of work related to the popular dinosaur unit including: skeletal puzzles, identification, classification, plaster relief, etc. (Science?)
+ Sunflowers and Parts of a sunflower (Science?)
+ Down by the water (Science?)
+ Pilgrim children (Social Studies?)
+ Columbus’s Ship (Social Studies?)
+ The Kinara – Kwanzas holiday lights (Social Studies?)
+ We give a thumbs up for Kindness with a focus on Martin Luther King Jr. Day (Social Studies?)
+ Map of the United States with many of the state names written by the Kindergarten child (Geography?)
+ The more we get together (Socialization?)
+ Let’s go inside a firehouse and know two ways to get out (Health, Safety, Social Studies?)
+ Transportation graph, flower graph, lots of graphs… (Math?)
+Pacific pipers, addition to ten (Math?)
+ Graphing and patterns (Math?)
+ Many “cut and paste pictures in order” (Sequencing Skills?)
+ How many in all (Math?)
+ Measuring length (Math?
+ Sentence completion (Literacy?)
+ Clap syllables (Literacy?)
+ 26 letter books (Literacy?)
+ Word family match up (Literacy?)
+ Summer feet word search (Literacy?)
+ Decorated take home library bag (Literacy combined with Art?)
+ Me and my buddy...from reading buddies with older grades (Literacy and Social Skills?)
+ Hanukkah Shape Hunt (Social Studies combined with Mathematics?)
+ Thanksgiving Row (spatial relationships combined with Social Studies?)
+ Tangram puzzles that make specific insects (combination of geometry, spatial skills and insect identification?)
+ Ladybug where are you (combination of Science and spatial relationships?)
+ Creeping, crawling creatures (combination of Literacy and Science?)
+ The big ones…measuring insects (Combination of Mathematics and Science?)
+ Weather graph (Combination of Mathematics and Science?)
+ Bound books created by your child and her/his classmates including :“All About Me,” “A Journey Through the School Year,” “My Kindergarten Year Book,” “My Kindergarten Journal,” and so on
Readers might be surprised to find out that despite the number of students who the Superintendent claims are coming to Kindergarten “unprepared,” there are quite a lot of students who are coming prepared.
There are students who come to Kindergarten already reading, already doing math, and already interested in science and social studies. Despite the standardized testing being performed today, there have always been parents in Hebron who held their own children to higher standards than the schools. There are and were children in half-day Kindergarten who needed more challenges and would have benefited from higher standards – not a longer day.
So what did and what do the parents of half-day Kindergarteners who have higher standards for their children do? They:
- Get involved : Nothing enforces the concepts taught in class better than having a parent who goes into the classroom and sees what is going on and then reinforces this with activities at home and within the community
- Enforce facts at home that are taught in the classroom: Kindergarten homework? If children can handle three extra hours of school then surely they can handle concepts being reinforced with homework.
- >Place children in out of school enrichment activities: When children show an interest in a subject it is incumbent on the parents to enhance that enthusiasm with programs offered by community organizations and/or private industry
- Place their children in a school environment that satisfies the needs of their children such as private schools: If a child needs more than the allocated time in a classroom environment to get up to standard expectation then tuition-based services must be a consideration
In addition to what parents can and should be doing, the school should also be considering smaller scale specialized services to address individual situations. Why is the only option a “lottery for some” or “all-day K for all”? Why isn’t one of the options to offer just half-day Kindergarten for all?
Frankly, we also cannot ignore the fact that the country is in an economic recession.
When children have special needs and are struggling, they are permitted to receive specialized services. If the state allows for a special education program for identified pre-school aged children, then there should be an option for a special education all-day Kindergarten program that targets the children who fail to meet standards.
It would seem this would be more justifiable than a “lottery-based system” where the additional help may not be going to the children who actually need it. It would seem this would be more justifiable than “all-day K for all” when clearly some children were – and are—doing just fine.
Here are some questions that need to be answered.
- >What are the services that are have been or are being provided for children who fail to meet the standards?
- How many children fall into this categorization?
- How many children had this status perpetuate, and for how long? Many students receive extra help in first grade with literacy skills, and then excel through the rest of their school years.
- Is the cost for temporary assistance to a few children less than the cost of an un-mandated program (all-day Kindergarten) for all the children? What is the success rate?
Schools in Hebron are well-organized, have curriculum-based teaching, and do a good job in preparing the youth of our community for the “real world.” Sit down with any older child in the town. Look over their homework and you will appreciate the good work being done by the teachers.
What makes Kindergarten different than the higher grades is that given the frame work provided by the teachers (often in a half-day program), we are almost all qualified to teach children the topics at hand. We are a well-educated community, and we can use the tools provided by the schools to enhance the teaching of literacy, math, science and social studies to children between the ages of 4 and 6.
Often at this age, children learn these things better by experiencing their curriculum in the real world (at the park, reading on dad’s lap, at the Peabody museum [for which the Douglas Library offers free admission passes], at Kid City, at the town library, where there are a number of children’s programs, and so on.) When a child gets a bit older, we as parents may no longer have the skills that are required to keep up with the curriculum.
One thing that is likely sitting on the bottom of that half-day Kindergarten memorabilia box is a Scholastic activity entitled “Do I Need it or Want It?” It is subtitled “There is a lot we want. But what do we need?”
It teaches Kindergartners that they need a place to sleep, something to wear, a healthy lunch, and hugs. It acknowledges that “wants” are things that you would like to have, but you can survive, or live, without them. It also discusses that “sometimes it is difficult to tell the difference between something you want and something you need”.
Given the number of people in Hebron who are actually worrying about how they are going to pay for that place to sleep, that healthy lunch, and clothes for their kids who outgrow them so quickly, it is time for the BOE and the Administration to go through the difficult process of determining if all-day Kindergarten is a “need,” or is it something that, for the time being, we can survive without.