HIGH MARKS

Getting a good grade is important for teachers as well as for students.
Carissa Lindbloom, Marianne O’Nelio and Kim Smith, teachers in the PREK (Pre-Kindergarten) Pilot Program of the Greenbush Education Service Center, have gotten very good grades in a Kansas Quality Rating System evaluation conducted through the Kansas Association of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies.
Ratings run from one to five stars, according to Cassandra Elsworth, Greenbush early childhood director.
“This is our first year, and when the reviewer shared the results with us, she said that beginning programs usually get one or two stars, maybe a few three stars,” Elsworth said. “We got four stars at all three of our locations — and those weren’t on the edge, they were solid. That means we’re on the right track.”
There were five components to the rating, with the reviewer looking at the learning environment, family partnerships, training and education of personnel, adult-to-child ratios and group size, and accreditation.
“The reviewer came in early, before the children got there, was there through the class and stayed afterward,” Elsworth said. “She also looked at staff credentials — and Kim, Marianne and Carissa all have their degrees.”
“I taught in public schools for 11 years, then started in early childhood,” O’Nelio said. “This is my seventh year working with 4- and 5-year-olds.”
Lindbloom was a substitute teacher in Frontenac for eight years, and Smith as been at the Family Resource Center for several years.
Elsworth said that the PREK Pilot Program was made possible through a grant opportunity from the Kansas Children’s Cabinet.
“The program needed to be a collaborative effort between school districts and community-based services, and there has to be a specified county,” Elsworth explained.
Lindbloom is working with youngsters in Northeast USD 246, and is based at the Northeast Elementary School. O’Nelio is in USD 249, utilizing an education building owned by Sacred Heart Catholic Church. Smith works with USD 250 children at the Family Resource Center.
“We have 10 children at Arma, 10 children at Frontenac and 40 at Pittsburg,” Elsworth said. “That means we’re serving 60 children.”
Youngsters attend half-day classes to help them improve their readiness for school and, hopefully, pave the way for academic achievement in the early grades. This includes pre-academic work, social skills, etc.
Around half of the children come from single-parent homes or have a parent in the military, and some have developmental delays. The other half meet none of those criteria.
Elsworth said that some slots are still available for next year, and the only firm qualification is that the child has to be 4 by Aug. 31. “Preschool is hard to recruit, so we’ve been putting out flyers and trying to get the word out,” she said.
“This really is a great program,” Smith said.
Getting the four stars points that up. “After all, if you were on vacation, would you rather stay in a one-star hotel or a hotel that had four or five stars?” Elsworth said.
Reviews are done every two years, and Smith doesn’t mind that at all.
“The rating score allows us to be accountable,” she said. “It helps us to be better teachers.”