What are we all about at Barren County Schools? Take a look!
BC Readiness Scores ABOVE State Average!
Debbie Dickerson, a preschool teacher for Barren County Schools, center, instructs rising kindergartners during the Kindergarten Readiness Camp last summer at North Jackson Elementary.
GLASGOW – The Kentucky Department of Education's Kindergarten Readiness 2016-17 State Results found that only half of Kentucky students who entered kindergarten were ready.
According to that same data, Barren County Schools had 60.8 percent of kindergartners considered ready when they entered the 2016-17 school year.
A BCS press release states that this percentage includes students who attended Barren County preschool, Head Start, a private child care provider or stayed home prior to enrolling in kindergarten.
“Of those who did attend a Barren County Schools preschool program, 65.2 percent were determined ready for kindergarten,” the press release states, adding that the BCS Board of Education is “very pleased” with the scores.
Barren County Schools has seen steady growth in its kindergarten readiness scores during the last several years, according to the press release. The school district had 45.9 percent of its kindergartners considered ready in 2014-15 and 57.9 percent in 2015-16.
Cynthia York, BCS director of special programs, stated in the press release that she attributes the continued improvement to the “use of a common curriculum across the district taught by expert teachers in their field.”
“The camps for new (kindergarten) students that are offered in the summer prior to a student entering school have enabled teachers to review with students skills they already know or may need to learn to be successful in kindergarten,” York said. “Partnerships with 21st Century programming and grants received from KDE have allowed these camps to occur and are an obvious benefit to all who attend.”
Rising kindergartners walk in a line to lunch during the Kindergarten Readiness Camp last summer at North Jackson Elementary. Their instructor, Debbie Dickerson, said the students learn how to walk in the hallway with a "Bubble and Tail." She said they know they have to "bubble their mouth" and have "a tail" behind them with their hands. "That keeps their hands to themselves and it keeps them nice and quiet," Dickerson said. "And they enjoy making those gestures to us as they walk down the hall."
Kathy Burris, BCS teacher consultant for special programs, previously told the Glasgow Daily Times that the kindergarten readiness summer camps give the students “a head start for when they come back in August.”
“Teachers typically see quite a bit of growth,” Burris said. “Even though it's just five days, they see quite a bit of growth.”
Last spring, the BCS preschool program received a five-star rating from the Kentucky Department of Education. Kentucky All STARS is the state's expanded five-star quality rating and improvement system for early care and education programs, according to the KDE website.
“Studies show that children who attend high-quality, early-learning environments have better math, language and social skills,” the KDE website states. “The unified system serves all early care and education programs that receive public funding including child care centers, Head Start and public preschool.
“Kentucky All STARS is based on Kentucky's Early Childhood Standards and research-based indicators of quality.
“It recognizes programs that have made a commitment to continuous quality improvement.”
Burris said it is really important that parents realize how crucial brain development is – even before age 3 – in getting their kids ready for kindergarten.