The Association between Judy Center Services and Kindergarten Readiness
Author: Maryland State Department of Education
Date: 2015-08-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: School Readiness,Kindergarten,Early Intervention,Language Skills,Emergent Literacy,Mathematics Skills,Social Development,Well Being,Physical Health,Psychomotor Skills,Program Effectiveness,Student Records,At Risk Students,Comparative Analysis,Control Groups,Experimental Groups,Low Income Groups,Special Needs Students,Disadvantaged Youth,English Language Learners,Student Evaluation,Scores

Judith P. Hoyer Family Learning Centers, also known as Judy Centers, serve all children birth through kindergarten who live in designated Title I school zones. There are twenty-seven Judy Centers and three satellites throughout Maryland serving forty-four elementary school zones. The Kindergarten Readiness Assessment (KRA) is conducted in the beginning of the kindergarten year and reflects school readiness based on the new curricular standards. The KRA replaces the previous school readiness assessment, the Maryland Model of School Readiness (MMSR). Comprised of a range of selected-response, performance-task, and observational-rubric items, readiness is measured in four domains--Language and Literacy, Mathematics, Social Foundations, and Physical Well-Being and Motor Development--as well as a combined, or Composite, score. In the four domains, students are rated as Demonstrating Readiness or Not Yet Demonstrating Readiness. For the Composite score, students are rated as Demonstrating Readiness, Approaching Readiness, or Emerging Readiness. The purpose of this study is to examine whether entering kindergarteners who had received Judy Center services were better prepared for school compared to those who did not. Further, the study examines whether the Judy Center services ameliorate the school readiness gap for at-risk children. KRA scores were examined for two groups of children. The first group accessed Judy Center services, the second group did not. This sample included 2,090 students who accessed Judy Center services (referred to as JC-1 children, or the treatment group), and 1,317 who did not (referred to as JC-0 children, or the control group). One of the first findings of this study is that there was a higher proportion of Free and Reduced Price Meals Program (FARMS) students in the JC-1 sample than in either the JC-0 sample or Maryland population. The key take-away message from this is that the JC-1 sample presents a solid target group for further intervention. Additional efforts could be made to direct resources toward engaging this subgroup with additional Judy Center services. A second key finding is that JC-1 students scored higher on the KRA than JC-0 students. Primarily, it appears that Judy Center services have a positive relationship with students' KRA performance. As such, encouraging those students who have special needs to access Judy Center services in the year prior to kindergarten could affect their KRA performance. Further, expanding Judy Center implementation to areas that are in need of such services could further improve KRA performance. This study examined the proportion of kindergarten students who had one or more special needs (i.e. special education, English Language Learners, FARMS). The full Judy Center sample had a greater proportion of students with special needs than Maryland overall. This suggests that the current Judy Centers are well-placed to address the needs of Maryland's neediest children and families. In addition, JC-1 students with special needs out-performed JC-0 students with special needs on the KRA. This points toward the Judy Centers' success at addressing the needs of the most disadvantaged students. With regards to special education, this study found that, first, there is a very low prevalence of kindergartners receiving special education services (between 8 and 10%). Also, JC-1 special education students scored higher on the KRA Composite score than JC-0 special education students, but not on the Mathematics or Language and Literacy domains. This suggests that students with disabilities may need more than a single year of Judy Center services to address their needs. ELL students' scores, on the other hand, demonstrated that accessing Judy Center services was associated with demonstrating readiness. This finding indicates that Judy Center services are affecting outcomes quickly and effectively for ELL students. Finally, there were very notable differences between JC-0 and JC-1 scores among FARMS students, with JC-1 FARMS students regularly out-performing the JC-0 FARMS students. This suggests that Judy Center services are positively associated with students' performance and readiness.