HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

H.C.R. NO.

128

TWENTY-FIFTH LEGISLATURE, 2010

 

STATE OF HAWAII

 

 

 

 

 

HOUSE CONCURRENT

RESOLUTION

 

 

requesting a report to the legislature regarding information on the public school junior kindergarten program.

 

 


     WHEREAS, the National Conference of State Legislatures reports that pre-kindergarten programs have grown over the last two decades, with nearly two dozen states launching or expanding programs in the 1990s and thirty-six states increasing funding by over $500,000,000 for pre-kindergarten programs in 2007; and

 

     WHEREAS, the National Conference of State Legislatures also reports that more than half of children ages three to five but not yet in kindergarten enroll in some form of pre-kindergarten, totaling more than 4,300,000 children in the United States, with parents' demand for pre-kindergarten on the rise; and

 

     WHEREAS, some research indicates that children who attend pre-kindergarten are more likely to graduate from high school, have higher earnings, and are less likely to be arrested than children who go straight to kindergarten; and

 

     WHEREAS, additional benefits of attending pre-kindergarten may include improved language skills, especially for children from low-income and linguistic-minority families; and

 

     WHEREAS, the Legislature found that national and local studies indicate substantial differences between older students and younger students within one grade in terms of performance and ability and, in response, established the public school junior kindergarten program in 2004 (Act 219, Session Laws of Hawaii 2004) as a commitment to adequately prepare children for school and accommodate the range of learners in the existing public school kindergarten program; and

 

     WHEREAS, despite the intent of the public school junior kindergarten program to provide appropriate education and nurturing to younger children prior to entering kindergarten or grade one, issues have arisen regarding the need for more appropriate curriculum for junior kindergarten children, the need for better assessments of junior kindergarten children, the promotion of a large number of junior kindergarten children directly to grade one without adequate assurance that those children would not have benefitted from an additional year of kindergarten, and a dearth of longitudinal data indicating the impact of participation in the junior kindergarten program on subsequent academic progress; and

 

     WHEREAS, more information is necessary to guide improvements to the junior kindergarten program that ensure the program accomplishes the goals for which it was established; now, therefore,

 

     BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-fifth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2010, the Senate concurring, that the Department of Education is requested to report to the Legislature information on the public school junior kindergarten program including but not limited to the following:

 

     (1)  For each school participating in the public school junior kindergarten program:

 

         (A)  The number of junior kindergarten children enrolled since inception of the junior kindergarten program at the school; and

 

         (B)  The number of junior kindergarten children that were retained in junior kindergarten, promoted to kindergarten, and promoted to grade one;

 

     (2)  The status of improvements to the junior kindergarten program curriculum, assessment of junior kindergarten children for determining whether to retain or promote to kindergarten or grade one, and training of junior kindergarten teachers; and

 

     (3)  Any long-term assessment data or longitudinal data on the impact of a child's participation in the public school junior kindergarten program on that child's subsequent academic progress; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Department of Education report its findings and recommendations, including proposed legislation, no later than twenty days prior to the convening of the Regular Session of 2011; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Superintendent of Education, the Chairperson of the Board of Education, and the Executive Director of the Early Learning Council.

 

 

 

 

OFFERED BY:

_____________________________

 

 

Report Title: 

Junior Kindergarten; DOE; Report to Legislature