BOE weighs
preschool standardsA panel recommends new ways
to gauge students' progress
Public preschools could be held to a new set of content standards aimed at improving students' transition to kindergarten, under a proposed Board of Education policy.
The Committee on Special Programs yesterday unanimously recommended the standards, which would change the way preschool teachers rate student progress. The proposal goes to the board for a final vote.
The standards incorporate five goals into the preschool curriculum: following rules and routines, developing health awareness, and small and large muscle coordination.
"It's looking to improve the quality of the curriculum and content," said Liz Chun, executive director of the Good Beginnings Alliance, one of the organizations that has spearheaded the standards.
"It ensures that a complete curriculum will be offered. It bridges that transition between leaving a good (preschool) program and entering kindergarten," Chun said.
Many of the state's preschool programs -- and their students -- would see changes because of the standards within months of their adoption, Chun said.
A special education preschool student's educational plan, for example, would be tailored to show development by the policy's benchmarks. Preschoolers attending other state programs would see their classroom lessons and activities better conform with the standards' aims.
The school board will vote on the policy in a meeting today at Lanai High and Elementary School.
If adopted, the policy would not be mandatory for private preschools.
But supporters of the standards are hoping that preschools islandwide will take up the standards by choice.
Chun and others will pitch their curriculum improvements to community preschools beginning later this year. They've already taken their standards to early education programs at area colleges in an effort to acclimate future preschool teachers to the policy and its goals.
Chun said a number of preschools have expressed interest in bringing the standards into their schools.
She expects to get more interest Saturday, when she'll speak on the standards at a Hawaii Association for the Education of Young Children conference.
