What does "kindergarten readiness" actually mean? скачать в хорошем качестве

What does "kindergarten readiness" actually mean?

Local schools say many children are lacking important skills when they start kindergarten and it is putting them at a disadvantage. Kindergarten readiness assessments show, in some cases, more than half of kindergarteners are not ready on the first day of school. Kindergarten isn't what it used to be. Over the past couple decades, kindergarten classrooms across the country have shifted as academic expectations have increased. "Kindergarten is a very foundational year. It's the only year in K through 12 that we can really focus on letter names, letter sounds, number recognition to get that very basic foundation that you've got to use your whole way up. So, it's a very important year," says West Goshen Elementary School kindergarten teacher, Micaela Neuhart. It appears Neuhart has found a balance between learning and fun. "If you talk to any of my kids they will tell you they love school and they want to be here because learning is fun," says Neuhart, "there's lots of fun things that you can do and they're still learning and they think it's just games." Neuhart is proud of the growth her students have achieved in just 6 months. "Some kids came in that couldn't write their names, couldn't recognize their names and now we are sounding out words and writing them. They're reading words. We're starting to learn addition and subtraction. They've learned so much already," she says. But it is hard not to imagine how much farther along the students could be if they had all experienced preschool prior to their first day of school in August. "From day one, you can kind of see who's been in preschool and who hasn't," says Neuhart. She says about a third of her classroom had some pre-K or academic childcare before kindergarten. That means some children have kindergarten readiness skills, but many don't. It also means that Neuhart spends a lot of time in August and September teaching her students how to be in school. "If they are in pre-K, it goes much quicker," says Neuhart. "We've seen a growing amount of students who are not quite ready, either academically, or emotionally, or socially," says Alan Metcalfe, the Associate Superintendent of Goshen Community Schools. Metcalfe says last year Kindergarten Readiness Assessments showed only 23% of Goshen kindergarteners were ready. Schools can use the Indiana Kindergarten Readiness Assessment to understand where a child stands in their development and what kind of support they may need. Metcalfe says those assessments, and others show many children are not just behind in early literacy and math, but are also missing important social and emotional abilities and self-help capabilities. "Without pre-K and without those opportunities, we are seeing large deficits in our students and our kids' ability to interact with each other and they're not ready for kindergarten at that point," says Metcalfe. In Indiana, school corporations are required to provide kindergarten for students that are 5 years old on or before August 1 of the school year. That means, schools can't turn children away, but a lack of kindergarten readiness skills may put a child at a disadvantage. Read full story here: https://wsbt.com/news/operation-educa... _________________ Stay up to date by following our social media: WSBT 22 on Facebook:   / wsbtnews   WSBT 22 on X:   / wsbt   WSBT 22 on Instagram:   / wsbt   For more information, visit https://wsbt.com/ Have a news tip? Send it directly to our newsroom: wsbtnews@wsbt.com WSBT is an IN based station and a CBS Television affiliate owned and operated by Sinclair Broadcast Group. Sinclair, Inc. is one of the largest and most diversified television broadcasting companies in the country today. Sinclair owns and operates, programs or provides sales services to 163 television stations in 77 markets, after pending transactions. Sinclair's television group reaches approximately 38.7% of US television households and includes FOX, ABC, MyTV, CW, CBS, NBC, Univision and Azteca affiliates.