Kindergarten Boot Camp
Alexandria Program Lays Down Rules, Builds Confidence
By Tara Bahrampour, Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, August 11, 2006; B01

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"Oh boy, we're singing that alphabet,

Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy!"

The children bobbed up and down as they belted out the words. A day earlier, the song had been new to them, but now they were experts -- and not just at the alphabet song. They knew to raise their hands before speaking, they knew how to line up to enter and leave a classroom.

Kindergarten -- real kindergarten -- hadn't even started yet. But at Lyles-Crouch Traditional Academy this week, and at 10 other Alexandria elementary schools, students arrived for their second day of a program -- Kindergarten Prep -- that is designed to ease the transition into kindergarten.

Many schools in the Washington region offer a full day or partial day of orientation to acclimate kindergartners. But this program lasts two weeks, with a different theme of study for each week. It started in two Alexandria elementary schools in 2000 and has expanded into most of the others.

Although it is open to all new kindergartners, it targets the 33 percent of children in Alexandria who have never had any other kind of school experience, such as preschool. Many come from socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds.

"Without a preschool experience, children haven't had any practice at what we would call basic school routines," said Cathy David, deputy schools chief. "They're in the big building for the first time, they've never had circle time, never worked at a learning center, never had classroom discussions."

The idea is that rather than being thrust into scary, unfamiliar surroundings with children who are old hands at going to school, they will first gain confidence that will stay with them as they move up through the grades.

The school system reaches out to public housing complexes and parent resource centers to let people know about the program, which is free. Enrollment has expanded every year: There are 342 children this year, up from 237 last year.

The program, which runs from 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and includes breakfast and lunch, is offered at 11 of the district's elementary schools -- all except the two that operate on year-round calendars. The cost to the district is about $120,000 a year (the cost of one child being held back a grade is about $12,000). The program ends Aug. 18, two weeks before the regular school year begins Sept. 5.

Before it started, "there was a lot of fear -- we had a lot of criers," said Wanda Allen, the program's coordinator. The program "offers them a little boost, an opportunity to become familiar with other kids, and also to give them exposure to teachers."

Added David, "It gave them such a confidence that many were not pulling away on the first day of school," and "it gave them a chance to be in the school all by themselves without the crowds and the things that can be intimidating for 5-year-olds."

It also gave them better odds at doing well. Children who attended K-Prep at the first schools to offer it have had better attendance and fewer disciplinary problems and were held back less often than those who did not. They also scored better on academic, work habits and social skills tests.

A year after attending K-Prep, one group earned an average score of 84.3 on tests of work habits vs. 76.2 for nonparticipants and a score of 80.5 on mastery of social and emotional skills vs. 72.2 among nonparticipants.

The K-Prep graduates were unconditionally promoted to first grade at a higher rate -- 85.7 percent -- vs. 80 percent of nonparticipants. About half as many participants as nonparticipants had to repeat kindergarten. "It was enough to make us realize this was a program we probably wanted to replicate," David said.

Craig Jerald, president of Break the Curve, a D.C.-based educational consulting firm, said that across the nation, school districts are adding "bridge," or orientation, programs but that they usually are geared to older students, such as those entering high school.

Although he had not heard of any such programs for kindergartners, he said it made sense. "Particularly for kids who have not had very systematic early childhood experience, kindergarten can feel like a sink-or-swim situation," he said. "A little bit of help goes a long way."

Criticism has arisen lately about students' free time, including summer vacation, being increasingly squeezed by academic and other structured programs, but Jerald said the K-Prep program did not worry him.

"If the teachers were drilling and killing kids on the alphabet, that could be some cause for concern," he said. "But if it's about understanding the social side of school, it can be very powerful. . . . There's nothing wrong with a program that will help prepare them for what they're going to face."

At Lyles-Crouch on Monday morning, the first day of this year's session, there was some crying and clinging, and even some running out the door after parents. But by the next day, the children were deeply immersed in their studies of sea fauna and seemed to have put their worries aside. The class had colored paper sea animals, and the girls who had drawn seahorses had, coincidence or not, generally decided to name them "Rainbow."

Ava Benbow whispered something about hers to her teacher, Tricia Hribar.

"It reminds you of your what?" Hribar said.

"My sister," Ava said.

Katherine Godigkeit gripped her seahorse. "She's special because she can hold the seaweed with her tail so she can rest," she explained. Justice Cokley, following the teacher's instructions, listened to Katherine talk before telling her about his fish, which, he said, was "sleeping on the bottom of the ocean."

"All right, does anybody know how the fish breathes?" asked Hribar.

A few children started yelling out answers, but Hribar reminded them to listen as Claire Hazzard, 6, announced that fish breathe through gills.

"That's very good," Hribar said, turning to the class. "I like how you're taking turns talking and listening to each other talk."

She also praised them for quickly learning the "Five Little Fishes" song. "That's the second day of school, and you knew that song, and we only did it a few times." They beamed.

Hribar said the program is helpful to her as well. "I get to see what they already know and what they already can do, and that's really good for planning for me."

Later, as the children threaded their arms into backpacks and lined up to leave the room, Claire said school was a little bit different than she thought it would be -- "like different tables," she said. "And, like, one teacher desk," at the front.

Did she like what it had turned out to be, with more than one teacher and everyone sitting on the floor talking about jellyfish and octopuses?

Claire paused. Then she smiled and said, "Yeah."

© 2006 The Washington Post Company