County Schools, United Way Set Kindergarten Standards
Posted
David Slone-dslone@timesuniononline.com
Whether a child enters kindergarten at Wawasee, Warsaw or Tippecanoe Valley, all three school corporations now have a standardized list of what the child needs to know.
"It is remarkable that our school corporations, our superintendents, were willing to sit down with United Way and work through this," said Patricia Coy, United Way of Kosciusko County executive director.
Previously, she said, standards for what a kindergarten student needed to know varied from school corporation to school corporation. Even some schools within the same corporation had different standards.
(See the list of what a child needs to know before starting kindergarten on the accompanying chart.)
The United Way has two strategies aimed toward education, and kindergarten readiness is one of them. The United Way also funds numerous programs for kindergarten readiness.
United Way officials looked at the programs it funds for kindergarten readiness to determine if a set standards list could help get children prepare for kindergarten. The United Way saw the standards list as an opportunity.
Coy said she met with all three superintendents; Dr. Craig Hintz from Warsaw, Dr. Thomas Edington from Wawasee and Brett Boggs from Tippecanoe Valley.
Each superintendent agreed it would be vital to have a checklist of what incoming kindergartners need to know. Each superintendent recruited individuals to help serve on the standards committee.
The committee representatives included: Dennis Duncan, Jefferson Elementary School principal, Warsaw; Cindy Kaiser, Milford School principal, Wawasee; Kris Woodward, North Webster Elementary principal, Wawasee; Ashley Taylor, kindergarten teacher, Milford School, Wawasee; Blaine Conley, Akron Elementary School principal, Tippecanoe Valley; and Kayla Hudson, kindergarten teacher, Mentone Elementary, Tippecanoe Valley.
"This was in partnership with the three school corporations," said Coy. "The superintendents were instrumental."
The plan is to use the standards throughout the whole county, not just the programs funded through the United Way.
United Way Community Impact Coordinator Mary Gerard said the need for the standards came to light through the programs United Way works with, but United Way believes they are beneficial to many educational organizations.
Coy said United Way will get the word out about the standards through local kindergarten round-ups, a letter to be sent out in mid-July, and other methods.
United Way wants parents, programs, daycares, preschools and anyone else to have the information so the community knows what children need to know when entering kindergarten.
"It will be too early to be significant for this year, but it will be a guide," said Coy. "They can start utilizing it for this year."
If a child does not meet these standards going into kindergarten, they won't be kept out of kindergarten. Coy said.
"It's a tool," Coy said.
Gerard said it's an enhancement. Some daycares had an idea of what a child should know going into kindergarten, but not a well-defined idea. This provides a list of standards.
By mid July, the standards will be provided on the United Way Web site at www.unitedwaykosciusko.org
