IRI READING READINESS SCORES
ON 5-YEAR SLIDE
ON 5-YEAR SLIDE
The Fall Kindergarten administration of the Idaho Reading Indicator is often used as a gauge for the reading preparation of Idaho's youngsters as they enter school. The assessment, which measures letter identification and letter-sound recognition, is a simple screener administered individually to students at the beginning of the school year.
For the past five years, the percentage of students identified by the Fall kindergarten IRI as "ready to read" has decreased. Over that period of time, the percentage has declined from 56.1% to 51.4%. That may not seem like much of a drop, but it means over 1,700 fewer students entered kindergarten "ready to read" than did in 2012-13. The percentage of "economically disadvantaged" proficient kindergartners declined even more steeply, from 43% to 37.2%.
In fact, analysis of the same pattern for the 20 largest districts in the state shows the same trend - every one of the districts saw a decline in fall kindergarten proficiency percentages over the last five years.
These twenty districts enroll about 2/3 of the state's kindergartners each year. You can see that there is a substantial difference between the districts that have relatively high preparation levels - West Ada, Boise, Madison, and those with preparation levels that are really very low - Caldwell, Jerome, Blackfoot, Minidoka County.
However, most districts have at least a few elementary schools, where very few students arrive prepared for reading. In 2016, there were examples across the state of schools where few of the kindergartners are prepared- from Sacajawea (27%) to Lewis and Clark (18%) and Washington (16%) in Caldwell, to American Falls (18%), to Central (28%) in Nampa, Falls Valley (38%) in Bonneville, Erickson (22%) in Idaho Falls, Dworshak (28%) in Cassia County, Paul (24%) in Minidoka County, Jefferson and Koelsch (39%) in Boise, Centennial and Whitman (Lewiston) 39%, and many more.
It seems clear that the issue of kindergarten preparation is becoming more critical as each year passes. It's time to look at a pilot of Pre-K in Idaho schools which have the greatest need. If just 10-20 schools have the opportunity to implement Pre-K, it will give the state a chance to evaluate progress and see if a difference can be made for students in Idaho. Given our experience at Hawthorne and Whitney, we think it will.
These twenty districts enroll about 2/3 of the state's kindergartners each year. You can see that there is a substantial difference between the districts that have relatively high preparation levels - West Ada, Boise, Madison, and those with preparation levels that are really very low - Caldwell, Jerome, Blackfoot, Minidoka County.
However, most districts have at least a few elementary schools, where very few students arrive prepared for reading. In 2016, there were examples across the state of schools where few of the kindergartners are prepared- from Sacajawea (27%) to Lewis and Clark (18%) and Washington (16%) in Caldwell, to American Falls (18%), to Central (28%) in Nampa, Falls Valley (38%) in Bonneville, Erickson (22%) in Idaho Falls, Dworshak (28%) in Cassia County, Paul (24%) in Minidoka County, Jefferson and Koelsch (39%) in Boise, Centennial and Whitman (Lewiston) 39%, and many more.
It seems clear that the issue of kindergarten preparation is becoming more critical as each year passes. It's time to look at a pilot of Pre-K in Idaho schools which have the greatest need. If just 10-20 schools have the opportunity to implement Pre-K, it will give the state a chance to evaluate progress and see if a difference can be made for students in Idaho. Given our experience at Hawthorne and Whitney, we think it will.
