Pathways for All

During the 2018-19 school year, LPLC trained 87 preschool educators and 97 kindergarten teachers in schools located within seven Idaho school districts: Caldwell, Kuna, Nampa, Jerome, Shelley, Mountain Home, and West Bonner. Preschool teachers received training in the foundational early literacy routines that promote strong early reading skills. Kindergarten teachers were trained to develop students’ comprehension skills, expose them to a wide range of text-types, continue to develop their letter-sound knowledge, learn how to decode words, and be able to read grade level texts.

LPLC routinely evaluated student progress through data from standardized assessments. We saw, on average, an 18 percentage point increase in the number of children at or above average from fall to spring in pre-school. In Kindergarten, there was a 25 percentage point increase in the number of students who met benchmarks. The statewide average growth was 18% comparatively. All participating schools are Title 1 schools, serving a majority of students from low income backgrounds. LPLC continues to work with SRI (the external evaluators for this project) to determine the impact of training and coaching on student outcomes, as well as to understand what factors lead to strong outcomes, and what obstacles prevent us from achieving more positive outcomes in some cases. The Idaho State Department of Education recently agreed to work with SRI on the evaluation, which we believe will lay the groundwork for state investment in early education.

Lastly, LPLC was able to secure contract funding from the Department of Health and Welfare to continue our work with early childhood educators. This means that we will be able to continue working with early childhood and Kindergarten teachers, in addition to First grade teachers.

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