District may start at-risk kindergarten pilot program

AMITY >> The Daniel Boone School Board will vote Feb. 22 on the motion to approve a four-year pilot, At-Risk Kindergarten program which would begin in the 2016-17 school year.

Assistant to the Superintendent Robert Hurley said the first-year program will include two, full-day classes of 15 students each.

Testing for the at-risk program will occur in May, and will include registered students. Kindergarten registration is March 7-11.

“The idea is that they will take the first 30 students that qualify,” said board member Richard Martino.

“If it is above that, come back to the board and expand (the program)?” asked Connor Kurtz, chairman of the Curriculum and Instruction Committee.

The committee recommended that the board consider approving the fouryear pilot program.

It also recommended testing the students at the end of third grade to determine the program’s longterm success rate.

“We will look at the program to see if the results are sustainable, and if we will support it long-term,” said Martino.

Hurley said the program is proposed without transportation costs, and building locations are still undetermined.

“I complement the board to help the youngest and neediest kids,” said Amy Hicks, president of the Daniel Boone Education Association.

“Teacher feedback is that it would be helpful to work closely together; having them in the same building instead of two different buildings.”

The At-Risk Kindergarten program was first presented to the board on Aug. 24, 2015, by Monocacy Elementary Center kindergarten teachers Kimberly-Murgitroyde and Johanna Latimer.

They said the program would ensure that all kindergarten students progress to first grade with the necessary knowledge and skills.

“At-risk potentiality comes not just from poor socio-economic conditions, but also from emotional and behavioral conditions that result from a difficult home situation, challenging health conditions, and even a poor attitude,” said-Murgitroyde and Latimer.

The teachers had discovered from the typical activities of kindergarteners writing their names, playing with Play-Doh and Legos, identifying colors, letters, and numbers, and more, which students could be “at-risk.”

They applied those results to the Brigance early childhood screening tests.

Murgitroyde and Latimer said there were nine students at Monocacy Elementary Center and four at Amith Elementary Center in 2015-16 who were “severely below level.”

In addition, 21 students at Monocacy and eight at Amity were “below level.”

“Each child is building a brick wall, and if we can’t give them the support they need, holes are created,” said Murgitroyde. “At the Daniel Boone Middle School, we’re still trying to fill in those holes. This would give everyone a good head start. We’re giving them something extra from the beginning.”

The “extra” would be 300 versus 120 minutes of math, 300 versus 120 minutes of writing, 300 versus 180 minutes of small group reading, and 200 versus 40 minutes of encores.

All students would receive 300minutes of wholegroup ELA (English, language, and arts).

Progress would be monitored with Dibels testing three times a year, kindergarten screenings four times a year, Fountas & Pinnell reading assessments, a standards-based report card three times a year, Go Math chapter tests, as well as constant monitoring.

The cost would be dependent upon the number of students, the amount of aide support, and the addition of other encores such as gym, art, and music.

Latimer and Murgitroyde said the costs could be alleviated by potential grants aswell as an additional year of instruction at the Berks County Intermediate Unit.

“An ‘at-risk’ situation can be temporary or ongoing, but requires reading and math intervention in order to succeed academically,” said the teachers, adding that intervention can mean the difference between finishing school and success in finding and keeping a job.

They said a school in Albuquerque, N.M., estimated that their full-day kindergarten students had a 16-month gain over the half-day kindergarten students.

The board approved in August 2015 that the program should be studied and discussed by the Curriculum and Instruction Committee.