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District reports growth in full‑day pre‑K enrollment, outlines classroom types and student outcomes
Summary
Staff reported 732 eligible prekindergarten students enrolled districtwide, described full‑day expansion and class types, shared assessment gains and kindergarten entry results for students who attended district pre‑K, and requested planning for two additional full‑day classrooms.
Stacy Dejoidis, staff member, presented the district’s prekindergarten update to the board on Feb. 24, reporting expanded full‑day programming, current enrollment and early assessment results that district staff said show program growth and positive kindergarten readiness indicators.
Dejoidis told trustees the district has implemented full‑day pre‑K for eligible four‑year‑olds across the district and is working with partners — including the Texas Workforce Commission and Region 11 early‑childhood networks — to grow enrollment. ‘‘Currently we have 732 eligible students that are enrolled in our pre kindergarten program,’’ she said.
The presentation detailed program composition: early‑childhood special education classes served at Hatley Development Center, one full‑day integrated pre‑K classroom, five half‑day early‑childhood special‑education classrooms for three‑year‑olds, and a 12‑classroom EMS ISD childcare operation serving infants through four‑year‑olds with about 116 enrolled. Dejoidis said the infant waiting list had fallen to about eight children, down from roughly 30 in prior years.
Dejoidis reviewed progress‑monitoring data from the district’s chosen assessment (Circle through CLI Engage) and Spanish‑language equivalents. She said the district had focused on a bilingual rapid‑vocabulary shortfall from the prior year and credited bilingual department staff and bilingual pre‑K teachers with improvements in the Spanish rapid‑vocabulary scores. She also showed math and early‑writing monitoring and described teacher coaching and content‑facilitator supports the district has added to meet state high‑quality pre‑K requirements.
Dejoidis reported outcomes for students who attended district pre‑K last year and were in kindergarten this year: 59 percent of those kindergarten students who attended EMS ISD preschool scored at the state Tier 1 benchmark on an early‑literacy screener at kindergarten entry, compared with 44 percent of kindergarteners who had not attended district pre‑K. On a MAP assessment sample she presented, 46 percent of the former pre‑K attendees who were tested scored in Tier 1.
Staff recommendation and planning: Dejoidis said a projected addition of 44 students would equal two full‑day pre‑K classrooms and that the district was actively planning staffing, transportation and training implications; such additions would require board consideration for staffing and budget adjustments. She asked the board to note the need for early‑childhood instructional specialists to meet coaching and mentoring requirements.
Trustees praised the program and asked staff for year‑over‑year attendance and discipline trend reporting in other parts of the meeting. Dejoidis said staff would bring expanded staffing proposals and budget requests as planning advances.
