The districts collectively make up one of 11 sites in the United States to be the first to utilize the surveys. The surveys will identify the cognitive and developmental skills children attending kindergarten may be lacking when they come to school.
The survey is a 104-item questionnaire filled out by kindergarten teachers on each child in their class. The questions cover areas that educational research shows are foundations for success in school, life and work.
· Do you feel this child is overweight or underweight?
· Would you say this child knows how to handle a book, e.g. turn a page?
· Would you say this child shows tolerance to someone who made a mistake?
· Since the beginning of the school year, has the parent-guardian volunteered in the classroom or on a field trip or classroom project?
The idea behind the surveys is to help communities identify vulnerable children and determine what they can do about it, said Dan Kibodeaux, executive director of the United Way of Southeast Mississippi, which helped secure funding for the surveys.
“One of the overall goals we’re trying to get to with an early development instrument is to point out the community’s issues and to start the discussion of what the community needs to do about it,” he said. “This isn’t about is one school doing better than another. It’s about how we as a community are doing to help our families prepare their children for school.”
The Hattiesburg school board recently approved the surveys in the Hattiesburg Public School District. Surveys will be given to about 450 children this spring.
Petal School District already has conducted more than 300 surveys.
Surveys will be conducted in 2012 in Forrest County, Lamar County, Lumberton, Perry County and Richton school districts.
“This is an excellent opportunity for all of us,” Forrest County School District Superintendent Debbie Burt said. “We’ve always thought that education is a community responsibility. We’d be happy to participate.”
Overall, the survey measures five areas, according to Kibodeaux: physical health and well-being, social competence, emotional maturity, language and cognitive development and communication skills, and general knowledge.
The statistics will be compiled at a group level to provide a population-based measure of children’s development. It is not reported at the child or class level.
The statistics will be analyzed by UCLA’s Center for Healthier Children, Families and Communities, which sends back a profile of vulnerabilities to the school district.