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Permission from KIPP NJ
K12 Dive
Night kindergarten class meets needs of working families during the pandemic
Concerns about absences and students’ difficulties with participating
in daytime classes led to the development of KIPP NJ’s Evening Learning
Program.
Kara Arundel
Dec. 14, 2020
The class of squirmy but eager and focused kindergartners took their
seats behind their screens in their homes to begin Zoom class. They
immediately started greeting each other and chatting about what they
just ate.
“Guess what I had. Strawberries, a fruit cup and my most favorite: waffles,” said Vanessa Parker, age 5.
Their teacher, Meredith Eger, let the kids talk about their meals for a
minute. When she was ready to start class, she smiled widely at the
faces on the screen and said, ”Hello, friends. Make sure you have your
paper and pencils ready.”
Eger had a full class planned that included lessons on sight words,
days of the week, drawing, counting, reading, writing and physical
exercises. She had to move swiftly in order to cover all the
activities, and so her young pupils would not lose interest.
It was 6 p.m. and the class would last until 8 p.m. for the children in KIPP New Jersey’s Evening Learning Program.
This is night kindergarten school, an optional and free offering the
public charter school network created to meet the needs of working
families with kindergarten and 1st-grade students who struggled to
monitor their children in virtual classes during the regular school
day. KIPP NJ, which has schools in Newark and Camden, is part of the
national Knowledge Is Power Program non-profit network of college
preparatory, public charter schools educating elementary, middle and
high school students. More than 90% of KIPP NJ students qualify for
free or reduced-price meals.
The evening program serves 13 kindergartners and three 1st-graders from
four KIPP Newark elementary schools, and there’s room for more
students, said Rebecca Fletcher, director of operations for the Evening
Learning Program and director of school operations for KIPP NJ's Seek
Academy. The students attend the evening classes with three teachers
Monday to Friday on the same calendar as the rest of the school system,
which is in virtual learning mode.
While teaching 5- and 6-year-olds on screen in the evening is not
ideal, the night classes, which began in October, are the best
alternative to keep some young students who had low rates of attendance
in the daytime program engaged in learning this school year, said KIPP
NJ educators.
In addition to KIPP NJ, school systems across the country are looking
for solutions for early childhood education participation and
enrollment as they experience noticeable enrollment and attendance dips
as a result of the pandemic. Preschool and kindergarten participation
exposes children to formal school settings and can prepare children
academically and socially for elementary school.
“The Evening Learning Program is basically a response to really
serving our families to figure out what they need,” said Keneshia
Clifford, a principal in residence and assistant principal of KIPP NJ's
Upper Roseville Academy. “We are proactively reaching out to our
families when it comes to attendance because we know attendance equates
to learning loss when kids aren’t present at school.”
Meeting the needs of students and families
Rachel Hodge, Vanessa’s mother, works as a hospital housekeeper and has
a second job supporting people with disabilities. She is also a college
student studying for a bachelor’s in social work. Hodge told school
officials earlier this fall that Vanessa may have several absences
because it would be difficult for the girl to participate in online
school during the day at her babysitter’s home due to distractions from
other children. Vanessa’s daytime teacher recommended her for the
Evening Learning Program.
“It was so convenient,” said Hodge, who had worried that Vanessa would
miss social and academic exposure this school year. Now, her daughter
is progressing in reading and thriving socially, she said.
“She does seem like she's really enjoying it, and they've sort of
formed like a really big bond, the teachers and the students. The kids
have said this is the ‘cool kids club,’” Hodge said.
Al-Khalif Lovelace, age 5, also struggled engaging in the daytime
online classes earlier this fall while at his daycare. Since
participating in the Evening Learning Program, Al-Khalif has learned
more sight words and can count to almost 20, said his mother, Jamia
French-Lovelace. He has benefited especially from the small class size
and more individualized attention from teachers, she said.
“He loves it and he’s on track. I’m very much so appreciative of that,” French-Lovelace said.
KIPP NJ's Evening Learning Program educators said their students are
making academic progress as shown by baseline assessments given when
the program began and follow-up assessments. Fletcher also said there
have been fewer than five student absences total since the program
began.
Eger, who is a teacher in residence for KIPP NJ's Upper Roseville
Academy and who is in her first year as a full-time teacher, works
alongside two other teachers in the evening program: Lily Ventrell, a
1st grade learning specialist for KIPP NJ's Upper Roseville Academy,
who supports students with disabilities; and Kristina Haag, the K-2
literacy achievement director for KIPP NJ.
The teachers, who also teach during the day, applied for the evening
program positions. For their work with the evening program, teachers
and administrators receive a stipend. The cost to operate the evening
program so far as been $72,000, Fletcher said in an email.
The teachers and administrators meet once a week to discuss the
students’ progress and ways to differentiate learning based on each
child's strengths and needs. They also talk about other logistical
efforts to make the most of the time they have with the students, such
as deliveries of school supplies to students’ homes so they are
prepared to participate in the lessons.
The teachers decided earlier this fall that the kindergarten and 1st
grade would gather in one Zoom meeting, and teachers would use breakout
rooms to provide more targeted lessons based on skill and grade levels.
One aspect that has made the evening program easier, the teachers said,
is they have lessons planned and slides and videos prepared from their
daytime classes.
“We learned a lot from the daytime program on what to avoid and what works well,” Ventrell said.
Squeezing it all in
At 6:40 p.m. on a recent Monday, Haag was working with the 1st-graders
on sound drills. “C-h chair ch, repeat after me,” Haag tells the
students. One student broke away quickly to charge his device. Another
shouted with delight at spotting the silent "e" in lake.
When the students completed blending the sounds into words, Haag said,
“Good job. Kiss your heads,” moving her index finger from her lips to
her head.
By 7:15 p.m. Eger had moved from reading to exercise time. The students
jumped, hopped, stretched and ran in place while Eger showed photos on
the screen demonstrating the moves and played upbeat music to energize
the students.
Next was math. Eger had students write down the missing number in a
sequence of numbers and then count pictures of shoes. Then she
challenged the students to add one more or subtract one less from their
counts.
“Ms. Eger, you froze,” said one student when the teacher’s screen paused for too long.
Then it was 8:01 p.m. As most of her classmates logged off, Vanessa
lingered, asking her teachers to draw pictures of fruit with her, which
they did, holding up their creations to the screen. As they said their
goodbyes, Eger called out to her young student, “See you tomorrow
night.”
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