County school board reviews kindergarten readiness assessment figures
By JIM BROOKS
Nelson County Gazette / WBRT Radio
Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2015, 11:49 p.m. — The county school district is making progress in reducing the number of incoming kindergarten students who aren’t academically ready to start the kindergarten curriculum. This assessment was presented to the Nelson County Board of Education at its monthly meeting Tuesday night.
Anne Marie Williams, the district’s director of elementary schools, explains assessment results for the district’s incoming kindergarten students at Tuesday’s board meeting.
The assessment is based on preliminary data from the state-mandated Brigance kindergarten screening assessment given to all incoming kindergarten students.
“The good news here is that as we see over time, more and more students are getting prepared for kindergarten through pre-school and have adequate childcare facilities that are preparing them for the real classroom setting,” Ann-Marie Williams, the district’s director of elementary schools told the board at its meeting Tuesday evening.
The data will be finalized in December and will be useful to help the district’s Early Learning Center evaluate what skills it needs to target, Williams said.
Overall, the district showed 47 percent readiness of its kindergarten students, which is close to the state average, she said. “That’s an area to work on because they need those skills, its not daycare, its no preschool any longer.”
Williams told the board the information from the Brigance screen could be shared with non-school preschools to help them see what skills students need to have as they enter kindergarten.
Board member Diane Berry asked how the district can convince private childcare providers to take on building the skills the children in their care need going into kindergarten.
Expect the Best award recipients, front row from left, included Bloomfield Elementary custodian Allen Mason; Cox’s Creek Elementary School students Alexis Newton and Jacob Solarzano; certified staff member Michelle Gosser at Horizons Academy; and Boston School parent Tracy Holsclaw.
“I think all parents want their children to be successful,” Williams said. If the district shares the information with parents and childcare providers about the skills kindergarten students need to know it will be a move in the right direction, she said. The district could share with parents and providers tools and resources, and show them how to use those resources with their children.
Superintendent Anthony Orr said the learning academy programs conducted by district schools help parents and families focus on those needed early skills.
In other business, the board:
— presented “Expect the Best” awards to certified staff member Michelle Gosser at Horizons Academy; Boston School parent Tracy Holsclaw; Bloomfield Elementary custodian Allen Mason and two Cox’s Creek Elementary School students Alexis Newton and Jacob Solarzano, who worked together to created a student-generated book club open to fourth and fifth-grade students.
— approved four grant applications by Boston School, NCHS, Coxs Creek Elementary School and Horizons Academy.
— approved a contract with Pepsi to continue serving the district’s soda machines and coolers. Pepsi maintains the district’s coolers and keeps the vending machines filled and maintained.
— moved to accept the offer of $37,445 in funding from Kentucky Education Technology System. The funding must go to the district’s technology needs and requires a match from the district.
Board chairman Damon Jackey said the district can expect two additional offers of technology funding this fiscal year.
— approved memoranda of agreement with several Kentucky universities to allow their teacher education students to teach in the school district. The colleges included in the agreement include Bellarmine, Campbellsville, Jefferson Community & Technical College, Midway College and St. Catharine College.
Additional colleges may be added to the list at a future board meeting, Jackey noted.
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