Giving Compass' Take:

• Detroit's  main school district recently launched a Kindergarten "boot-camp" to help prepare early learners for their first years of schooling.

• How will the national trend preparing students over the summer  for Kindergarten be beneficial in the long run? And what can educators do to keep supporting Kindergarten readiness programs?

• Read about other programs trying to increase the number of students who feel prepared to enter Kindergarten.

In a back room of a church on the city’s near east side,  Abraham and Magaly Gonzalez attended a summer camp with their 5-year-old twins. Six other children from the church’s child care center were seated around a rectangular table lit by fluorescent overhead lights, working on exercises to teach them colors, numbers, and shapes.

This was their second session in the Detroit main district’s newly launched Kindergarten Boot Camp, a four-week summer program led by district staff that focuses on the basics children need to start school.

Although school readiness is not a new notion for educators, in the past couple of years, the summer programs for children who are about to start kindergarten have become a national trend, said Robin Jacob, a University of Michigan research associate professor who focuses on K-12 educational intervention.

A growing number of districts and schools have added the programs, recognizing that they last only a few weeks, are relatively inexpensive, and keep students engaged during the summer months, she said.

These early lessons are important for children and their parents, said Sharlonda Buckman, the Detroit district’s assistant superintendent of family and community engagement, because officials too often hear from teachers that children don’t know how to sit in their seats, line up, or hold a pencil.
Read the full article about preparing children for kindergarten by Kimberly Hayes Taylor at Chalkbeat