State's New Pre-K Ratings Assessed As 'Misleading'

By MARILYN BROWN The Tampa Tribune

Published: Jul 29, 2007

TAMPA - The state's newest report card gives parents more information in their search for a good voluntary prekindergarten program.

The question is, how useful is that information?

Parents can go online and compare ratings of state pre-k programs based on how much the children who attended those schools knew when they entered kindergarten.

Nothing, though, indicates how much the 5-year-olds knew when they entered pre-k up to a year earlier. That means you can't tell whether they learned anything in the state's vaunted, $372 million early-education program.

"You could have children who came in who were already reading aloud and they were still reading aloud at the end of the year and you could have done nothing with them," said Lisa Bellock, kindergarten supervisor for Hillsborough schools.

On the other hand, some children come in not knowing so much as one letter and they make great progress, Bellock said. Yet they still might not score "ready" for kindergarten.

Rating a program using one set of grades isn't worthwhile, Bellock said. "It's misleading. What is really needed is a pre- and post-test. They're giving you partial information."

Preschool owner Cesar Gomez was one of the Hillsborough providers whose program was considered low performing on the readiness rating.

Most of his 4-year-olds spoke only Spanish when they entered his Kinder Kountry pre-k class in Dover. They made great progress, he said, but had to fight language and poverty barriers. Two out of 10 students spoke English but had disabilities.

"Pretty soon, providers will begin to select which children are best to get the score," Gomez said. "What really disappoints me is the way the state tests the children."

The state readiness tests relate primarily to literacy skills. Pre-k includes learning social skills, learning to line up and share, and developing fine and gross motor skills. His students are getting that, Gomez said.

The providers rated on the state Department of Education's Web site participated in the state's taxpayer-funded, voluntary pre-k program in 2005-06, the year the program started. Those deemed "low performers" must submit improvement plans and could be out of the state program if they don't show gains.

Most voluntary pre-k students attend private or faith-based schools under the taxpayer-funded program approved by voters in 2002. Fewer attend summer pre-k provided in public schools.

It's up to parents to choose among state-approved pre-k providers, although there is little oversight of private programs other than health and safety inspections.

The state-required kindergarten readiness rates provide accountability to taxpayers, said Shan Goff, executive director of Early Learning for the Florida Department of Education.

High populations of non-English-speaking, poor and disabled children are found in many of the 24 programs showing low readiness rates and overseen by the Early Learning Coalition of Hillsborough, said Dave McGerald, executive director of the coalition.

"Some of the low-performing providers' rankings are justified," McGerald said. But the rating system also may be driving some good programs away, he said.

United Cerebral Palsy of Tampa Bay, listed under Achieve Tampa Bay, is another private school rated low-performing. It serves mainly students with disabilities, and in a separate, voluntary rating system provided by the local coalition - and considered quite stringent - the school earned four out of five stars.

"Why can't we figure out a better way to look at children with disabilities in terms of progress?" asked David Brooks, preschool director at the school. "Because of our population, we get caught, but that's our mission. We take kids with all kinds of special needs."

Goff said certain exceptions and methods of observation are supposed to be used in evaluating children with disabilities.

Kindergarten teachers must test students within 30 days of school starting. Many students with disabilities are not officially identified that early.

Even the public school summer program - 300 hours of classes in six weeks, as opposed to 450 hours in private or faith-based schools during a full school year - did not escape the low performing list.

Three Hillsborough public school summer programs - Bryan Elementary in Plant City, Just Elementary in Tampa and Ruskin Elementary - were rated low-performing based on students who attended in the summer of 2006.

The district does its own pre- and post-test on the summer pre-k children, Bellock said, and students from the schools deemed low-performing showed great progress in recognizing letters and letter sounds.

The gap in what students know when they start pre-k is dramatic.

Of 1,025 children given pre- and post-tests in the district's pre-k program in the summer of 2006, 118 didn't know one letter of the alphabet and 217 knew all 26 when they arrived, Bellock said.

Because of these findings, Hillsborough bought higher level materials for advanced students in the 2007 summer program at all schools, Bellock said.

Goff pointed out that the first readiness report reflects the first year of pre-k, which had a rushed start because legislation defining the program was late in arriving. Schools are improving and the program is growing, although this year's summer program is now ending with an estimated 11,000 students statewide, behind last year's enrollment of 12,322.

Hillsborough led the state in the number of students in the first summer program in 2006, and it looks like the county will hold the top position again, state records show. Hillsborough counted 1,336 this summer, mostly in public schools.

Parents of all pre-k students agree that their child will take a state-mandated readiness test when they enter kindergarten, including those who enter a private kindergarten, but Goff acknowledged there is no penalty if they don't. Schools aren't rated if they had fewer than four pre-k students completing most of the program or were tested in kindergarten.

Local and state officials emphasized that parents should visit potential pre-k classrooms before making a choice.

Reporter Marilyn Brown can be reached at (813) 259-8069 or mbrown@tampatrib.com.