Elmhurst registers support for all-day kindergarten

Elmhurst Unit District 205 has been eliciting input from the community in multiple ways over the past several years, through a community engagement process known as Focus 205, to help establish priorities as it develops a comprehensive operational plan to guide decision-making in future years.

Three major data points have demonstrated that offering an all-day kindergarten option for families should be a priority for Elmhurst moving forward. During the 2015-16 school year, as part of Focus 205, the district hosted a series of community engagement sessions. All-day kindergarten emerged as the top instructional priority.

Focus 205 also included an interactive ThoughtExchange survey, in which all-day kindergarten, along with enhanced STEM opportunities for students, was identified as a clear community priority.

Finally, in a recent third-party scientific telephone poll conducted Oct. 16 to 25, 81 percent of respondents supported District 205 offering access to all-day kindergarten. Sixty-six percent supported all-day kindergarten being housed at neighborhood schools. The margin of error in the poll is +/- 5.7 percent.

This fall, the district conducted an All-Day Kindergarten Feasibility Study and discovered that all but one of its high-performing, comparable unit districts offer the option of all-day kindergarten, and 67 percent of DuPage County schools offer this program.

Currently, a curriculum committee has been formed to do some preliminary work that would help the District 205 community understand what an all-day kindergarten program looks like.

Brain research is clear about the importance of literacy acquisition in the early childhood and early elementary years. One of District 205's key performance indicators is "all students reading on grade level by the end of third grade."

The district has identified the following advantages of all-day kindergarten:

• Students gain language and literacy skills faster than students in half-day programs;

• Social-emotional and behavioral skills are enhanced;

• There are additional opportunities for free play and experiential (hands-on) learning when essential academics are not compressed into a few short hours.

This can mean:

• A decreased need for remedial and intervention services.

• The achievement gap narrows because at-risk students have enhanced opportunities.

On Jan. 27, at a special school board workshop, the administration presented preliminary draft concepts for future facilities projects that would accommodate the additional space needed to offer all-day kindergarten at neighborhood schools, and board members continued the discussion with a follow-up at the Feb. 13 board meeting.

A second workshop, open to the public, is planned for 11:15 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 24, at the Administration Center, 162 S. York St., Elmhurst.

The administration will take input and feedback from the board and schedule a revised and condensed presentation for a future regularly scheduled meeting, either Tuesday, Feb. 27, or Tuesday, March 20.

Upon receiving the green light from the board to move forward, current plans call for the formation of a Community Advisory Team to help vet and share these concepts with the larger community in multiple ways.

Focus groups, another ThoughtExchange survey, an online survey and other forms of feedback will help inform a final long-range Facilities Master Plan that, if supported by the community, can lead and define District 205's future focus for generations to come.

• David Moyer is superintendent of Elmhurst Unit District 205. During the school year, his column appears monthly in Neighbor.