Gains reported for early childhood learning assessments
Absenteeism remains a challenge for Lee schools
Although absenteeism was among one of the greatest challenges for early childhood learning, there were great gains in phonological awareness, mathematics and oral language, School District of Lee County officials said.
Early Childhood Learning Services Director Mary Grace Romo said to accomplish their goals, they have more than 200 employees who serve approximately 1,000 children at 18 sites throughout the district. She said they are an amazing group of people dedicated to early childhood learning.
“There have been several challenges to overcome this year as we worked to serve our children and families. We are facing staffing challenges, filling vacancies, COVID losses and mental health and wellness,” she said.
The greatest challenge has been the increase in chronic absenteeism, greater than 18 days. During the 2022 fiscal year 48 percent of children had chronic absenteeism, compared to 29 percent for 2021.
Romo said they are taking measures to address this through a strategic action plan and committee through the nonprofit Attendance Works.
“If the children are not in school we cannot get them ready for kindergarten,” she said.
Broken down, 26 percent, or 126, missed fewer than 5 percent of the total number of school days for Tier 1A, while 26 percent, or 170, had at-risk attendance, missing 5 to 9.9 percent of the total number of school days for Tier 1B.
Fourteen percent, or 93, had severe chronic absence, missing 20 percent or more of the total number of school days for Tier 3. In Tier 2 of moderate chronic absence, 34 percent, or 225, missed 10 to 19.9 percent of the total amount of school days.
The coming school year the focus will be on attendance, providing training and emphasizing alignment.
Romo also shared accomplishments of fiscal year 2022.
“We have many new team members in early childhood. It has been a year of transition,” she said, adding that they will focus on strategies to strengthen their team.
Among the accomplishments was the results of the Florida Kindergarten Readiness Screener (FLKRS).
“We started lower than other districts. Although we started lower, we have improved over these four years and maintained our progress. The line levels out and has been maintained. Other districts had sharp drops for many of the during two years of the pandemic,” Romo said. “It is important to note that the data represents all 6,000-plus entering kindergarten (students) Early Learning touches about 800 of new kindergartners.”
According to the data presented, Romo said Lee is one of three of the 10 largest Florida districts with a favorable trend with a springboard of continued improvement.
The presentation also highlighted the Voluntary Pre-K Assessment, which is given three times throughout the year and measures where children should be at the end of Pre-K.
“As you can see from the bar graph, the growth for assessment period two is quite a jump from where the children started when they came in,” she told the School Board of Lee County.
Phonological awareness went from 14 percent for the first assessment in 2021 to 79 percent in the third assessment for fiscal year 2021. For 2022, the first assessment period was 11 percent, which rose to 42 percent for the second assessment.
Mathematics went from 7 percent in the first assessment in fiscal year 2021 to 76 percent for the third assessment in fiscal year 2021. For fiscal year 2022, the first assessment period was 9 percent, which again rose to 58 percent for assessment period two.
Oral language went from 21 percent for the first assessment period in 2021 to 80 percent in fiscal year 2021 in the third assessment period. For fiscal year 2022, there were 25 percent for the first assessment period, which rose 65 percent for the second assessment period.
Romo said they expect the data for the third assessment period to show similar growth.
There are some initiatives going into the 2022-2023 school year, which continues to support children’s progress and development.
Romo said they are engaging online software called Imagine Learning, which is supplemental to address literacy and math. The second is positive parenting curriculum, Conscious Discipline.
“Head Start requires research-based parenting curriculum. It aligns with classroom curriculum and reinforces the ability for teachers and parents to work together,” she said.
There are also future expansion efforts, as there are 7,570 Lee County 3- and 4-year-olds who are not in school.
“There are many missing out on the Pre-K experience due to cost and limited access,” Romo said.
Some of the expansion efforts include recruiting private providers for the Lee County Preferred Provider Partnership Program; relocate six Head Start classrooms to James Stephens Early Learning Center; add Title 1 Voluntary Pre-K classrooms on two East Zone elementary schools; and open the G. Weaver Hipps Early Childhood Center.
“Another effort is moving our Head Start classrooms to brick-and-mortar buildings to align with federal expectations and identify new spaces for Pre-K classrooms,” Romo said.
The board questioned how the district is going to work with VPK providers.
Romo said they have been addressing what the partnership with providers really means.
“Our team is really committed to relationship building, grassroots of building trust and truly making it worth the providers to collaborate with us. It has to add value. Some of the initiatives are in the relationship between school and providers,” she said.
Among those include kindergarten visits, as well as teachers having collaboration and communication, so kindergarten teachers know each child and what they need to support where Pre-K teachers left off.
“Early childhood works very much in isolation. It really is part of a bigger picture. We want to break the barriers down,” she said.
To reach MEGHAN BRADBURY, please email news@breezenewspapers.com