Board hears Vision 2030 update on early childhood; PreK4 TS Gold shows fall-to-spring gains

Director Kristen Stonkel and Early Childhood Coordinator Carissa presented the board with the Vision 2030 early childhood segment of the district strategic plan on Oct. 28. Stonkel said the district is aligning 29 strategic indicators to early childhood programming, which includes ECFE, voluntary PreK-3 and PreK-4, site-based programming and home visits.

Coordinator Carissa described the districts use of Teaching Strategies Gold (TS Gold) as the primary assessment tool for PreK-3 and PreK-4. "TS Gold is essentially across all domains. It's a checklist. It's an observational tool that uses child development and kind of a rubric based on each indicator," she said, noting data are collected three times a year (fall, winter, spring) and teachers use evidence from classroom observations to feed PLC discussions.

Presenters showed fall-to-spring growth for many PreK4 students in domains the district collects; they noted the TS Gold cognitive domain contains additional items the district does not collect in full, which can make composite cognitive figures appear lower than the underlying student growth. The presenters highlighted continued collaboration between early childhood general education and early childhood special education (ECSE), use of professional learning communities to share practices, and measurable program goals tied to mid-year and end-of-year checkpoints for 2025-26.

Board members asked how TS Gold data are gathered and about subjectivity versus rubrics; presenters described the rubric-driven, observational nature of TS Gold and the PLC process that uses the data to adapt instruction. The presentation was informational only; the board did not take governance action at this meeting.