MEMORANDUM NO. 037-15M EL/ASI

Page 1

July 1, 2015

July 1, 2015 (X) Action Required

Due date: July9, 2015

(X) Informational

MEMORANDUM NO. 037-15MEARLY LEARNING/ASSESSMENT AND STUDENT INFORMATION

TO: Educational Service District Superintendents

School District Superintendents

School District Early Learning Contacts

Elementary School Principals

Educational Service District Early Learning Coordinators

District Assessment Coordinators

FROM: Randy I. Dorn, State Superintendent of Public Instruction

RE: State-Funded Full-Day Kindergarten Eligibility

CONTACT: Robert Butts, Assistant Superintendent of Early Learning

360-725-0420,

Kathe Taylor, Director of Early Learning Assessment

360-725-6153,

Agency TTY: 360-664-3631

Purpose

This memorandum serves to notify school districts of the schools that are eligible to receive funding for voluntary, state-funded, full-day kindergarten beginning in the 2015–16 school year. The requirements for participation in state-funded full-day kindergarten are also provided. School districts with eligible schools must notify the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction(OSPI) through iGrants by 5:00 p.m. on Thursday, July 9 regarding whether or not the district will accept the funding.

Background

On June 30, 2015, the Governor signed the 2015–17 state biennial operating budget that provides funding for 71.88 percent of kindergarten students in the state to receive full-day kindergarten in the 2015–16school year and 100 percent in the 2016–17 school year.

As specified in RCW 28A.150.315, state-funding for full-day kindergarten is being phased in beginning with schools that have the highest percentage of students qualifying for free and reduced-price lunches. In addition, once a school receives funding, the school remains eligible for funding in subsequent years, regardless of changes in the school’s percentage of students who are eligible for free and reduced-price lunches.

School districts are not required to offer full-day kindergarten in eligible schools until the
2017–18 school year, at which time it is required by the Basic Education Act. Until then, school districts may decline to receive funding from the state.

The priority list for new schools is availableonline. This list is based on the free and reduced-price lunch eligibility for schools on October 1, 2014, as reported in CEDARS as of March 31, 2015.

Conditions for Receiving Funding

To receive funding, school districts are required to agree to a number of conditions in RCW 28A.150.315, which include:

  1. Provide at least a 180-day school year with 1,000 “instructional hours” (as defined in RCW 28A.150.205). However, up to three of these days at the beginning of the school year may be used for the WaKIDS “Family Connection” (see WaKIDS section below).
  2. Provide a curriculum that offers a rich, varied set of experiences that assist students in:

a)Developing initial skills in the academic areas of reading, mathematics, and writing;

b)Developing a variety of communication skills;

c)Having experiences in science, social studies, arts, health and physical education, and a world language other than English;

d)Acquiring large and small motor skills;

e)Acquiring social and emotional skills including successful participation in learning activities as an individual and as part of a group; and

f)Learning through hands-on experiences.

  1. Establish learning environments that are developmentally appropriate and promote creativity.
  2. Demonstrate strong connections and communication with early learning community providers.
  3. Participate in kindergarten program readiness activities with early learning providers and parents.
  4. Administer the Washington Kindergarten Inventory of Developing Skills (WaKIDS).
  5. Provide full-day kindergarten to all students who request it.

Notification to OSPI

School districts with eligible schools that want to receive funding for state-funded full-day kindergarten are required to notify OSPI through iGrants by 5:00 p.m. onThursday, July 9. Theform package is titled: 409Full-Day Kindergarten (Newly Eligible Schools). The iGrants form package requires that the school district agrees to comply with the state-funded full-day kindergarten conditions listed above.

School district representatives also must notify OSPI through iGrants form package 409 if they do not want to receive funding for the 2015–16 school year and to identify why they are declining the funding.

If school districts indicate that they are not interested in receiving funding for their schools and OSPI determines that unused funding will likely be available, a second round of notifications will occur in mid-July. It also is possible a third round will be conducted, if necessary.

Eligibility in Future Years

If a school does not have adequate space for full-day kindergarten in the 2015–16 school year or chooses not to accept funding for other reasons, the school will be eligible for funding in the 2016–17 school year.

“Voluntary” Kindergarten

The statutory language regarding state-funded full-day kindergarten indicates that the program is to be “voluntary.” This has been interpreted to mean that school districts must provide parents an option of part-day kindergarten. This can be implemented in a number of different ways, including having a separate part-day class or incorporating the part-day students in the full-day classroom. Whether the school district provides transportation for these children to and from school is a local school district decision. If a school district elects to provide mid-day transportation to accommodate parents accessing part-day classes, such costs will be allowable “to-from” transportation expenditures.

In addition, if a school receives state-funding for full-day kindergarten, it must provide full-day kindergarten to all kindergarten students in the school (with the exception of parents whohave “opted-out” their children). Thus, for example, a school cannot receive funding if it only plans to provide full-day kindergarten in one of three classrooms in the school because of classroom space limitations.

Full-day Kindergarten Webinar

A webinar will be conducted on July 8, 2015, from 10:00– 11:00a.m. in how to design full-day kindergarten classrooms that are academically rigorous and developmentally appropriate. You can register for the webinar at The webinar will be recorded and available online two days after the webinar occurs.

Full-day Kindergarten Professional Development

The Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction and Capital Region Educational Service District 113 will be hosting the Starting Strong Institute, which isa three-day conference on August 3–5 at the Tacoma Convention Center that will include pre-sessions and breakouts in how to design high quality full-day kindergarten programs. The institute is being designed for school district staff, principals, and kindergarten teachers. To obtain additional information and register, go to

In addition, professional development modules have been created on Child Development, the Kindergarten Learning Environment, and Learning Centers. These trainings are being offered in most Educational Service Districts (ESDs) and will be offered at the Starting Strong Institute.

Educational Service District Full-day Kindergarten Support

The nine ESDs have identified individuals who are available to provide assistance to school staff in implementing full-day kindergarten programs. A list of these contacts is available at:

Resource material for designing and implementing a full-day kindergarten program is available at

WASHINGTON KINDERGARTEN INVENTORY OF DEVELOPING SKILLS (WaKIDS)

The Washington Kindergarten Inventory of Developing Skills (WaKIDS) is a kindergarten entry transition process that includes three components: building family connections, assessing students’ developmental levels, and collaborating with early learning providers. The objectives for WaKIDS align with the legislative goals for state-funded full-day kindergarten, as stated in RCW 28A.150.315.

WaKIDS is required to be implemented in state-funded full-day kindergarten classrooms (RCW 28A.655.080).

WaKIDS COMPONENTS

Following is a brief description of the three WaKIDS components.

Family Connection

The purpose of the family connection component is to bring together teachers, students, and families to get to know each other, share information about the child, and support the child’s transition to kindergarten. Schools are required to invite families to individual meetings with teachers. These individual meetings, which generally take 20–30 minutes, occur at the school or at a mutually-agreed-upon location, before or near the beginning of the school year.

Legislation enacted in 2013 (RCW 28A.150.220) permits schools implementing WaKIDS to use up to three days at the beginning of the school year to meet with parents and families as part of the family connection component of WaKIDS. Schools are not required to use three full days, and may conduct these individual meetings using other schedules such as early release days, evening conferences, prior-to-school meetings, and/or home visits(see the WaKIDS Family Connection webpage for more detailed information). These family-teacher conferences may be counted as instructional hours to meet the Basic Education Act requirement (RCW 28A.150.315) that students receive 1000 hours of instruction for state-funded full-day kindergarten.

To guide the family connection meetings, OSPI provides a booklet entitled Introducing Me! for every child. The booklet, which teachers use to guide the family connection conversations, provides questions for the family and child to answer about the child’s interests and preferences. The ESDs will distribute copies of the English/Spanish version of the booklet to districts in late June, and to teachers attending WaKIDS trainings.Introducing Me! is available online in 18 languages.Limited paper copies of Introducing Me! in languages other than English/Spanish will be available on request by calling OSPI at 360-725-6161 or emailing . For details, see

ESDs will distribute afamily brochureto districts explaining WaKIDS.

Whole Child Assessment

WaKIDS uses the online assessment tool,GOLDTMby Teaching Strategies®to assess objectives in sixareas of development and learning:social-emotional, physical, language,cognitive development, literacy,and mathematics. The objectives were revised in 2015; for background, see What’s New in WaKIDS 2015? webinar and FAQ.

The assessment process asks teachers to:1) observe and assess childrenduring routine classroomactivities; 2) collect evidence of students’ skills and document themthrough videos, notes, andphotos; and 3) enter student data into theGOLD™ online system. Data entry must be completed by October 31 at 9:00p.m. Pacific Time.

The intent of the WaKIDS assessment is to document the strengths students demonstrate between the time they start school and October 31. Teachers do not need to delay instruction for fear that students might learn new skills before being assessed. Because GOLD™ is an ongoing, observational assessment, teachers can observe and collect evidence of students’ development multiple times during the assessment window. Teachers can also assess more than one student and objective at a time (i.e., it is not a pullout model of assessment).

Districts are expected to:

  • Assure that teachers attend WaKIDS 101 training.
  • Assure that teachers individually assess all students in their class during the assessment window.
  • Assure that administrative procedures are addressed and followed.
  • Encourage all teachers to complete inter-rater reliability certification.
  • Determine ways to use WaKIDS data to inform instruction and planning, and provide feedback to families and early learning providers.

Training

Required teacher training:Teachers must be trained on the assessment before they can be issued the username and password needed to access the GOLD™ online system and evaluate their students’ developmental levels. Each kindergarten teacher is expected to assess the students in his/her own classroom.

Teachers new to WaKIDS must be trained between July 1 and September 30, 2015, to implement WaKIDS in the fall of 2015. These “WaKIDS 101” trainings, led by certified WaKIDS trainers, will be offered through the ESDs beginning in July and continuing through September 30. September trainings are intended for late hires. Teachers hired after September 30, 2015, are not expected to assess students in fall 2015. (See the training schedule on the WaKIDS website.)

School districts will receive reimbursement (travel and compensation) for each state-funded, full-day kindergarten teacher who participates in WaKIDS 101, and substitute costs for WaKIDS 101 training offered prior to October 1.

Principals or other district administrators who will be supporting teachers and who are interested in an in-depth understanding of WaKIDS are welcome to participate in trainings.

Optional teacher training:Teachers have several options to familiarize themselves with 2015 updates to WaKIDS or to deepen their understanding of observational assessment and the use of WaKIDS data.

  • WaKIDS 2015 Update, a shortonline webinar is available to introduce teachers returning to WaKIDS to the revised slate of objectives and dimensions that will be assessed in 2015. Teachers can view the webinar on the WaKIDS website and read about the rationale for the changes here.
  • WaKIDS 201 will be offered by the ESDs for teachers returning to WaKIDS. WaKIDS 201 is intentionally designed for experienced WaKIDS teachers who have not attended WaKIDS training since 2013. Participants will learn practical strategies to observe and document students, and hone their observational assessment skills using GOLD™ by Teaching Strategies®.

Optional administrator training:WaKIDS 301 will be offered by ESDs for administrators interested in learning how to optimize the use of WaKIDS data.

Administration

Required once-a-year administration:Teachers are required to administer GOLD™ once at the beginning of the school year for a fall checkpoint.

Optional administration in winter and/or spring:Teachers, schools, or districts may choose to administer GOLD™ up to two additional times during the school year to document student growth over time. There is no additional cost to collect data GOLD™ during winter and/or spring checkpoints.

District upload of student rosters:Districts should upload student rosters into GOLD™ for teachers within two weeks of the start of school or no later than September 15. No student can be added without a State Student Identifier (SSID).

Assessment of native English speakers in full immersion classes and English language learners: See the Guidance for WaKIDS Teachers located on the WaKIDS website.

Parent waivers:Parents have the right to excuse their child from participation in WaKIDS. Parents wishing to do so should notify the building principal of their request in writing during the first week of school or as soon as possible thereafter.

Relation to other kindergarten assessments: RCW 28A.150.315 stipulates that the state intends for WaKIDS to “replace administration of other assessments being required by school districts or that other assessments only be administered if they seek to obtain information not covered by the WaKIDS.” Districts should consider delaying the administration of other assessments during the state assessment period and look for ways that evidence gathered from other assessments can be used to support WaKIDS observations.

Teacher Inter-rater Reliability Certification

To be confident that data is of high quality and consistent, districts and principals should strongly encourage teachers to earn their inter-rater reliability (IRR) certification. WaKIDS 101 includes three hours of dedicated time for teachers to pursue IRR certification in GOLD™, and in 2014–15, over 80 percent of WaKIDS teachers were IRR-certified.Districts will be reimbursed $120 to pay experienced WaKIDS teachers who complete IRR certification for the first time or renew an expired IRR certificate by September 30, 2015. NOTE: IRR certification lasts for three years, then it must be renewed.

In June 2015, OSPI notified principals of teachers in their schools who participated in WaKIDS in 2014–15 and needed to complete or renew their certification. Funding for IRR reimbursements will flow through the ESDs, which will work with OSPI to verify which teachers have earned their IRR certification.

WaKIDS Data and Reports

Teachers can use WaKIDS data formatively to improve instruction as soon as it is gathered. After data are entered and finalized, summative data becomes available immediately through online reports, and can be used by the teacher, principal, and other school district personnel to analyze students’ strengths. Some districts are using the GOLD™ reports in fall conferences with families. School and district-based WaKIDS data is posted on the State Report Card.

Relationship of WaKIDS to Other State Initiatives

Washington state learning standards: WaKIDS objectives and dimensions are connected to state learning standards, including Common Core State Standards (see Reference Guide for the Connections of WaKIDS and State Learning Standards).

Teacher/principal evaluation: Teachers may choose to assess WaKIDS math and/or literacy objectives to demonstrate student growth. Teachers who elect to do so would continue to document evidence of all or selected students’ skills and knowledge on specific objectives by completing a second and/or third checkpoint. See the short webinar on the connections of WaKIDS to TPEP on the Resources page of the WaKIDS website.

Early Learning Collaboration

State-funded full-day kindergartens are required by statute to “demonstrate strong connections and communication with early learning community providers and participate in kindergarten program readiness activities with early learning providers and parents.” (RCW 28A.150.315).

The goal of the early learning collaboration component of WaKIDS is to increase communication and build connections between kindergarten teachers and early learning providers in order to:

  • Promote a shared understanding of kindergarten readiness and WaKIDS among families, early learning professionals, and schools.
  • Strengthen kindergarten transitions and transition planning for children and families.
  • Facilitate work in regions to utilize WaKIDS assessment data and to inform strategies to improve the readiness of children, families, schools, and communities.
  • Foster partnerships among families, school districts, and community partners to improve children’s kindergarten readiness and engage families in their children’s education and school.

ESDs and Early Learning Regional Coalitions have established action plans to help reach these goals. Principals seeking to identify the early learning providers near their schools can do so through the Child Care Aware website. Early Learning Collaboration can take place anytime during the year.