Tuesday, September 13, 2016

BOISE PRE-K ROCKS!

The Boise District's partnership with the City of Boise, United Way, and other non-profits and donors in the community has resulted in many beneficial programs, including the addition of Pre-K programs at two schools, Hawthorne and Whitney.

In 2015-16, Hawthorne had morning and afternoon sessions of preschool, and Whitney had a morning session. With the administration of the fall Idaho Reading Indicator to kindergartners at the two schools, it's clear that the Pre-K programs were a smashing success.

Hawthorne and Whitney both have high percentages of students qualifying for free and reduced lunch. We know that poverty is linked closely to lack of preparedness for school. In 2015,  just over half (52%) of entering kindergartners at the two schools scored a "3" on the IRI, indicating that they were ready to read.

We were excited to see the impact that having preschool instruction at the two schools would have on the preparedness of the children involved in the program. Here are the results:


83% of the entering kindergartners who completed Pre-K at Hawthorne and Whitney scored a "3" on the Fall kindergarten IRI, compared with half of those who had not had Pre-K. That's 20% higher than the Boise District as a whole in 2015, and 30% higher than the 2015 percentage for the state of Idaho.

Four students moved out of district or out of state over the summer. Nine are enrolled at other elementary schools in the Boise District (the scores for these in-district students are included in the Pre-K category in the above chart).

We know that the numbers are small for this first year. 15 of the students in last year's Pre-K program were too young to start kindergarten this year, and so will get another year of Pre-K k at Whitney or Hawthorne. And Whitney has added a Pre-K session for 2016-17.

It's exciting to see such outstanding early results from the Boise Pre-K program. Of course, a ton of credit goes to our two outstanding Pre-K teachers, Grace Ruddy at Hawthorne and Shelia Dengler-Shaw at Whitney, and their support staffers. Thanks to our community partners and to the city of Boise and the United Way, as well.

We will continue to follow this group of kindergartners, and successive groups of Pre-K students, to assess their short and long term progress. What a great start!