DEPARTMENT: Pre-K 4 SA
DEPARTMENT HEAD: Kathy Bruck, CEO
COUNCIL DISTRICTS IMPACTED: City Wide
SUBJECT:
Independent Evaluation Update
SUMMARY:
This item includes a briefing and Board discussion of the Literacy Kindergarten Entry Assessment (KEA) 2014/15 for Pre-K 4 SA Cohort 1(attended in 2013-14).
BACKGROUND INFORMATION:
This assessment is part of the Board approved Independent Evaluation Plan for Year 2 of the Pre-K 4 SA Program. The outcome research question was: "Are former Pre-K 4 SA children 'significantly" more 'ready' for kindergarten compared to demographically similar matched peers as measured by district administered Literacy Kindergarten Entry Assessment (KEA)?
ISSUE:
The original plan had been to request the student results from each partner district. The Superintendents requested that Edvance request the data from the Texas Education Agency. Although this is an evaluation of cohort 1 students from the first year of the program, the kindergarten entry results were not available from the Texas Education Agency until the end of the 2014-15 academic year. This process took almost six months to receive the correct records, and Edvance received data for only 405 of the 743 Pre-K 4 SA students requested. A further complication was that districts have multiple assessments that they may choose to administer. Among the partner districts, four different instruments were utilized. This greatly reduced sample size, making meaningful comparison, particularly for students tested in Spanish, very difficult.
ALTERNATIVES:
This item is a briefing for informational purposes only.
FISCAL IMPACT:
This item is a briefing for informational purposes only.
RECOMMENDATION:
Staff is recommending no action at this time. There will be further discussion of future options during the presentation and request for approval of the Year 4 Independent Evaluation Plan at a subsequent Board meeting.
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