Located on the southern end of the peninsula that separates the Chesapeake Bay from the Atlantic Ocean, Maryland’s sparsely populated Somerset County is the state’s poorest. Household income in 2014 was $36,106 according to the U.S. Census, less than half that of the counties at the other end of the spectrum, including Calvert ($91,993), Montgomery ($97,873) and Howard ($108,503).
But on Maryland’s 2018 kindergarten readiness assessment, Somerset County surpassed most of the state. It came in third among counties at 60 percent, 13 points ahead of the state average. And it was also a jump from four years prior, when 47 percent of children in Somerset County were found to be ready for kindergarten.
Somerset school officials say the reason for the performance is simple: The county offers universal, full-day pre-K to all 4-year-olds.
“It makes a huge difference. What we see is those children who went to pre-K definitely do better than those children who did not,” says Karen Karten, the early education coordinator for the county’s public schools, talking about the jump to kindergarten.
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The usual Democrat fix is to throw more money at it, at least that's what we hear from our local school districts.
ReplyDeleteSo, now we know it's not necessarily the money but HOW it's done that matters.
Go figure.
834, what article did you just read? They stated universal pre-K was the cause for success. The program was funded by state and local money. So YES you will need more money if you are to expand the program into localities with more pre-k age kids.
ReplyDeleteSomerset may be a tad low on avg. Income. But dumb they're not.Plus they have some of the most kept up parks and boat ramps you'll find.
ReplyDeleteThey also don't have the number of kids that other counties in MD have.in 2015 they only had 400 kids in Pre-K and kindergarten. In 2022 they are only projected to have 2800 total kids enrolled K-12 which is last even behind Garrett County.
ReplyDeleteIt’s because they have Karen Karten who has lead they way. Biggest lose Wicomico has ever had.
ReplyDelete