With school back in session, many young children are just getting to know their kindergarten classrooms. To help with the transition, school districts in Multnomah County have offered an Early Kindergarten Transition program to students who have not had preschool or have a primary language other than English.
Known as the EKT program, a new five-year study found that students who participated in the three-week intervention showed higher attendance rates and early literacy skills over time.
Here’s Dr. Beth Tarasawa, manager for education research partnerships at the Northwest Evaluation Association and lead researcher on the study, to explain.
Read the paper in the Journal of Applied Research on Children: Leveraging University-School District Research Partnerships: Exploring the Longitudinal Effects of an Early Kindergarten Transition Program
Quotes from the interview:
0:40 “The program aims to increase parental involvement, reduce chronic absenteeism and enhance the development of early literacy skills,” which are indicators of academic success down the line. The free, three-week program helps children adjust to school and helps their parents learn how to support their child’s learning.
1:24 “There’s a lot of work in terms of who is recruited to this program … the director and her colleagues have done really structured recruitment to historically marginalized families in the area.” They do this by connecting with schools, nonprofit networks and organizations to identify kids who would benefit the most from the program.
2:36 “The intervention is designed for kids who haven’t had structured school experience.” They’re also more likely not to speak English at home and need free or reduced-priced lunch, among other factors.
3:30 “If we can provide them a really welcoming place — free transportation, free food — it’s really an incentive to get kids here.”
3:50 “We started tracking students in 2010, so this is a five-year study … preliminary results were very favorable.”
4:57 “Our findings suggest that EKT students tend to outperform non-EKT students.” They were also much less likely to be chronically absent from school.
5:46 “What’s exciting about this is that it’s really about the longer-term impact. There’s a lot of research on the national scene about these types of programs” and their effectiveness at increasing high school graduation rates, for example.
7:14 “It’s not just an intervention for students. It’s also for their families.” For example, the program teaches parents how to read a report card and determine where their child is doing best and areas where they may need help. That way, parents can be more engaged in their child’s education.
8:40 “If you think about the social network of mothers and fathers and guardians, information can spread quickly. We’ve worked with some Somali families and the information we provide to one family gets passed around to other families in their community.” She said that helps build trust and demonstrates that “it’s not just top-down or schools teaching out” but schools who want to engage parents, no matter what their family situation or language.