District presents first preschool-impact baseline showing higher early-grade math proficiency for attendees
Summary
Pasco School District presented first-year baseline data suggesting students who attended preschool generally outperform peers in early-grade math; staff cautioned the results are preliminary and asked for sample-size breakdowns and further trend data before drawing firm conclusions.
At the Pasco School District study session Superintendent Whitney presented baseline comparisons of students who attended preschool versus those who did not and said, "all cohorts, except fifth grade, had a higher proficiency for students that attended preschooler" (as read from the slide narrative).
Whitney and staff characterized this as the first time the district could present linked preschool-attendance data across cohorts because they had implemented data-collection processes that now allow comparisons. They reported higher proficiency for preschool attendees in multiple early grades and described the results as a baseline to monitor over time.
Board members asked whether anomalies (notably fifth and eighth grade outliers) reflect COVID-era service interruptions or earlier limited preschool availability. Whitney noted the district's early preschool rollout was limited eight years ago and that expanded ECAP (Early Childhood Assistance Program), transitional kindergarten and partner programs such as Head Start and private preschool reporting are now included in the blue-group counts. She said some attendance data are self-reported by families and that staff will provide counts for the orange/blue groups (raw sample sizes were not shown in the session).
A member asked whether the 38.8 percent high-growth target referenced was a national norm; staff said they would verify whether that threshold is the national norm for the STAR assessment and agreed to confirm the assessment norming and exact references. The presentation used the terms STAR and STAAR in different places; staff acknowledged the distinction and the need to confirm which assessment norming was cited.
Whitney emphasized the finding is an early baseline and that the district will monitor the preschool effect over multiple years before drawing stronger causal conclusions. Staff committed to provide raw counts and to refine slide labels so the board and public can see how many students each bar represents.
The board recessed into an executive session after the study session; staff estimated the executive session would last about an hour.
