FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASESEPTEMBER 1, 2018
The School Administrators of South Dakota recognize the importance of a quality preschool experience as an integral part of a student’s success in school. In South Dakota, 76% of children under the age of 6 have all available parents in the labor force. The national average is 65%. South Dakota ranks the highest in the nation based on 2015 data. Those statistics make early childhood education that much more important in South Dakota. Knowing this, SASD began the process two years ago to put in place a tool to help identify and acknowledge Levels of Excellence for preschool programs in South Dakota. “We are hopeful that our process and tool will be available this fall for any preschool, public or private, who may be interested in going through the process of seeing how well their preschool performs in comparison to our Levels of Excellence” Rick Thaler, Committee Chair. The document and process put together by SASD is entirely voluntary.
The SASD Pre-School Standing Committee, Chaired by Rick Thaler was established and met for the first time in August of 2015. The late Dr. Gera Jacobs from USD was asked to take part in the work and she began to put together the framework for the Levels of Excellence. She was assisted by Dr. Sherrie Bosse from USD and Carmen Stewart from USD Head Start. The committee met over a two-year period to work through the Levels of Excellence document to make it as user friendly as possible for any preschool, yet have the validity it needed.
The Preschool Levels of Excellence document contains indicators that will identify where a preschool fall on a continuum of three levels; Proficient, Distinguished, and Exemplary based on a final tabulation of scores. The director or owner of the preschool does an initial self-evaluation with the document, and then a member form SASD will do their own evaluation of the preschool program. The two will then meet to discuss the final document before a tabulation is done by SASD. Once a level has been established, the preschool will receive a certificate from SASD identifying their level of excellence to display at their preschool. Their name and address, along with their level of excellence will also be hosted on the SASD.ORG website identifying preschools of excellence around the state. The level of excellence is good for three years before the process needs to be repeated. However, if a preschool is wanting to advance their level, they can request another evaluation before the three-year timeframe is up. “Early intervention through quality childhood programs are proven to be vital to later academic success for many children at the k-12 level. SASD is very proud to be the leader in our state as we raise the bar in preschool education. We believe that the SASD Level of Excellence program will have a positive impact on the lives of many of South Dakota’s Children”. Kevin Nelson, Principal of Beresford Elementary School.
During this past school year, seven school piloted the Levels of Excellence document. Their scores were tabulated and each of them received a certificate at the ASBSD / SASD Joint Convention in August based on their final tabulation. The school districts who piloted were: Wagner, Exemplary; Chester, Exemplary; McCook, Distinguished; Elkton, Distinguished; Lake Andes, Distinguished; Iroquois, Distinguished, and Beresford, Exemplary.
You can find more out about the program by going to SASD.ORG and clicking on the Preschool Levels of Excellence tab or contacting Rob Monson, Executive Director of SASD.