Requested Information
Per the form letter provided regarding applications for early admission to Howard County Kindergarten:
Please provide definitions for the below academic categories.
Please provide as detailed as possible examples of skills, knowledge, and breadth/depth of understanding required by a candidate student to achieve “Proficient,” and separately what is required to achieve “Advanced.”
Academic Categories:
- General Knowledge
- Reading
- Graphomotor/Writing
- Mathematics
Also, please provide the justification for the change in required scoring from school year 2017 to 2018 for early admission.
Specifically, in 2017, the criteria was written as: In order to be admitted early to kindergarten, 4 of the 6 categories must be rated as: Advanced (A) and no category can be rated as Basic (B).
The categories were: General Knowledge, Reading, Graphomotor/Writing, Mathematics, Development Checklist A (teacher), Developmental Checklist B (parent)
In 2018, the new criteria is written as: In order to be admitted early to kindergarten, both of the following must occur:
- One of the two Developmental Checklists in the Social /Emotional/Behavioral Category
must be scored as Advanced (A); neither of the two can be scored as Basic (B).
- Three of the four areas in the Academic Category must be scored as Advanced (A); none
of the four can be scored as Basic (B).
The development checklists are: Development Checklist A (teacher), Developmental Checklist B (parent)
The academic categories are: General Knowledge, Reading, Graphomotor/Writing, Mathematics
This altered criteria has INCREASED the difficulty of students attempting to enroll in Kindergarten early.
Please provide definitions for the below academic categories.
Please provide as detailed as possible examples of skills, knowledge, and breadth/depth of understanding required by a candidate student to achieve “Proficient,” and separately what is required to achieve “Advanced.”
Academic Categories:
- General Knowledge
- Reading
- Graphomotor/Writing
- Mathematics
Also, please provide the justification for the change in required scoring from school year 2017 to 2018 for early admission.
Specifically, in 2017, the criteria was written as: In order to be admitted early to kindergarten, 4 of the 6 categories must be rated as: Advanced (A) and no category can be rated as Basic (B).
The categories were: General Knowledge, Reading, Graphomotor/Writing, Mathematics, Development Checklist A (teacher), Developmental Checklist B (parent)
In 2018, the new criteria is written as: In order to be admitted early to kindergarten, both of the following must occur:
- One of the two Developmental Checklists in the Social /Emotional/Behavioral Category
must be scored as Advanced (A); neither of the two can be scored as Basic (B).
- Three of the four areas in the Academic Category must be scored as Advanced (A); none
of the four can be scored as Basic (B).
The development checklists are: Development Checklist A (teacher), Developmental Checklist B (parent)
The academic categories are: General Knowledge, Reading, Graphomotor/Writing, Mathematics
This altered criteria has INCREASED the difficulty of students attempting to enroll in Kindergarten early.
Status
Complete
Response Notes
Under MPIA GP § 4-345 an agency may deny inspection of the part of a record that would be contrary to the public interest, specifically examination information related to academic matters. As such, we are withholding the Howard County Public School System’s Early Admission Assessment, including supporting scoring details, which contain the specific test items for academic skills required to achieve proficient and advanced in the referenced categories.
Responsive Documents
Available staff email discussions regarding changes in early kindergarten admission scoring for 2018.