The Examiner U-46 News Feed
U-46 Board deals with first FDK proposal
By Seth Hancock
The Board of Education in School District U-46 was presented with the first proposal directly related to the implementation of Full-Day Kindergarten (FDK) district-wide next school year with a proposal for curriculum resources and professional development at its meeting on Monday, March 21.
The proposal, which totals over $4 million in expenditures, will likely receive a vote at the April 11 meeting. The largest cost would be $2.25 million for 30 additional teachers which is lower than the 55 originally projected, but U-46 CEO Tony Sanders said “that could grow depending on enrollment as we get closer to August.”
Suzanne Johnson, assistant superintendent of Teaching and Learning, said some of the costs are one-time and some recurring.
Peggy Ondera, director of Early Learner Initiatives, said a committee met twice a week from the end of October through the start of January including preschool, kindergarten and first-grade teachers from each of the district’s high school feeder patterns in order to “make sure we were representing all areas of the district.”
The proposal is for a play-based learning model based on the National Association for the Education of Young Children guidelines and using Danielson’s Framework for Teaching.
“We were not looking to replace the curriculum that has already been written within the district,” Ondera said. “So what we really were doing is looking for a framework that would bring all of that together and make it easy for teachers to utilize and understand what the play-based kindergarten model looks like.”
Ondera said that of the 2,050 families already registered 1,983 have chosen the FDK option, the rest choosing half-day which is required to be offered under state law. U-46 expects to have between 2,500 and 2,600 registered kindergarteners in 2016-17.
Part of the proposal is to purchase materials for a “dramatic play center,” those materials listed being more geared towards girls rather than boys including kitchen sets, dolls, dress-up clothes and dollhouses.
On parental involvement, Ondera said: “We really view parents as a child’s first teacher, and it is so important for us that we build that partnership. So parents know their children better than we do and have important information that they can share with us that can support the learning and education of their child.”
Despite, as The Examiner has reported, the fact that there are a plethora of studies on both sides, Ondera made lofty claims on the benefits of FDK.
“What we do know is that (FDK) makes a difference for all students” including an easier first grade transition, and the district’s internal data shows “that our (FDK) intervention students have performed above expectations in all cases.”
Ondera said that 65 percent of dual-language and 72 percent of general education FDK students “surpassed expected gains” making FDK a “proven success.”
Regarding data, board member Sue Kerr later asked: “You could look at third-graders from last year… and then see if all day kindergarten is having an impact on the children?”
Ondera said “yes, I would agree with that.”
Looking at the comparison between full-day and half-day U-46 students, rather than the data based on assumed expectations, previous data provided to board member Cody Holt shows FDK hasn’t been a success in U-46. As previously reported by The Examiner, by second grade the students who were in FDK across the board scored lower than their half-day counterparts on the Spanish-language SUPERA test throughout the four years of available data. Holt did not receive the MAP scores he requested.
If approved, there would be eight days of professional development (PD) over the summer, which in future years the nation’s taxpayers would be asked to pay for the training of U-46’s teacher as Johnson said Title II funding would pay for PD after the first year.
Data used to evaluate the program would include the KIDS assessment, which Ondera said is assessed through teacher observation of “the physical, the social-emotional, the language development” of students, as well as parent and teacher surveys and a Differential Literacy Battery.
Board member Phil Costello asked about the expected student-teacher ratio which Ondera said was 28-1 but “plays out differently in different buildings.” Costello also said by his quick calculation the recurring costs would be over $3 million a year which Johnson said was correct.
Costello also asked: “It seems to me that the parents would be the best volunteers to augment the teacher ratio… what kind of role will they serve in the classroom?”
Ondera said the district will be running a pilot program in some schools to help determine that.
Although she has fully supported FDK from the start, board member Traci Ellis called the implementation “the biggest initiative that the district has undertaken” which makes her “nervous.” She lauded the district “for insisting on a standardized, across the board professional development rollout up front for everybody” despite veteran teachers complaining to her about the PD.
Ellis said: “I get it… I’ve been on the receiving end of being a veteran attorney and being forced to sit through mandated professional development” but has since seen the benefits.
Ondera implied that the PD would not be mandatory during the presentation saying attendance was expected but teachers can be selective.
Ellis also liked that the proposal strips personal responsibility from the students and parents and places it on the system. She said: “I loved the approach to it’s not the job of the child to be ready for kindergarten, it’s the responsibility of the system to be prepared for every child.”
Board member Jeanette Ward has opposed FDK from the start but told those working on implementation “it’s not because I think you did a bad job” but rather “to me, the idea of it is not a good one and I do have some reasoning behind why I think that.”
Ward cited the federal government’s Head Start program which data shows no impact from more early childhood education as well as a Drake University study and a 2012 study of the California school system that both show any benefits from FDK are lost in just a few years and those students have more behavioral problems.
Also citing a 2006 Rand Corporation report titled “School Readiness, Full-Day Kindergarten, and Student Achievement” that looked at data from 7,900 students, Ward said that it “found that (FDK) programs may actually be detrimental to mathematics performance and non-academic readiness skills.”
Ward added: “If we expend these resources for (FDK) then there’s less resources left for the rest of the students in the district.”
.
.
