Rapid City Area Schools reports strong kindergarten readiness after junior-kindergarten pilot
October 08, 2025 | Rapid City Area School District 51-4, School Districts, South Dakota
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Jennifer Roberts, director of teaching, learning and innovation for Rapid City Area Schools, told the board the district’s junior-kindergarten pilot improved kindergarten readiness for participating students.
“When school started this August, 37 of the students who had been in junior kindergarten last year were assessed at the beginning of this year, which was their kindergarten year,” Roberts said. “Our results show that 73 percent of them, 27 of the 37, scored at or above benchmark on the fall kindergarten composite star scores for both reading and math.”
Roberts said the program serves children who are kindergarten age but, based on early assessments, are not yet ready for kindergarten instruction. She told the board the pilot emphasized both academic skills (literacy and numeracy) and social-emotional readiness.
Board members praised the results and asked about tracking and scale. Board member Kaye Irvin said she hoped the district would follow the cohort through later grades. Roberts replied the district will continue to track this group and future cohorts and noted the district reported percentages rather than some raw numbers “because that group is so small that it would make students identifiable.”
During the discussion, a classroom representative said junior-kindergarten classrooms were capped at 18 students and that some school sites had not filled their available seats. Roberts said the district continues the junior-kindergarten program this school year at the three pilot schools and has added one additional school for the current year.
Board members and district leaders framed the pilot as aligned with the district’s strategic priorities. Several trustees noted the program’s potential downstream effects — for example, better kindergarten readiness can affect third-grade reading outcomes and, ultimately, graduation rates — but no board vote was recorded on new funding or expansion during the meeting.
District staff said data collection and midyear updates will continue, and principals and teachers who led the pilot will provide more detailed program information and implementation lessons at a future meeting.
The board thanked the teachers, paraprofessionals and principals who ran the pilot.
“When school started this August, 37 of the students who had been in junior kindergarten last year were assessed at the beginning of this year, which was their kindergarten year,” Roberts said. “Our results show that 73 percent of them, 27 of the 37, scored at or above benchmark on the fall kindergarten composite star scores for both reading and math.”
Roberts said the program serves children who are kindergarten age but, based on early assessments, are not yet ready for kindergarten instruction. She told the board the pilot emphasized both academic skills (literacy and numeracy) and social-emotional readiness.
Board members praised the results and asked about tracking and scale. Board member Kaye Irvin said she hoped the district would follow the cohort through later grades. Roberts replied the district will continue to track this group and future cohorts and noted the district reported percentages rather than some raw numbers “because that group is so small that it would make students identifiable.”
During the discussion, a classroom representative said junior-kindergarten classrooms were capped at 18 students and that some school sites had not filled their available seats. Roberts said the district continues the junior-kindergarten program this school year at the three pilot schools and has added one additional school for the current year.
Board members and district leaders framed the pilot as aligned with the district’s strategic priorities. Several trustees noted the program’s potential downstream effects — for example, better kindergarten readiness can affect third-grade reading outcomes and, ultimately, graduation rates — but no board vote was recorded on new funding or expansion during the meeting.
District staff said data collection and midyear updates will continue, and principals and teachers who led the pilot will provide more detailed program information and implementation lessons at a future meeting.
The board thanked the teachers, paraprofessionals and principals who ran the pilot.
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