Maryland's Children Left Behind

Study shows declining school readiness in certain groups

By Lauren Barack -- School Library Journal, 5/1/2005

More children start kindergarten prepared each year in the state of Maryland, according to a new study from the state's Department of Education. But for a few communities, their children are actually doing worse.

"We still haven't figured out why," says Rolf Grafwallner, coordinator of the early learning office at Maryland's DOE, which studies the state's 55,000 children who are about to start kindergarten each year.

Of Maryland's incoming kindergartners last year, 58 percent were tagged "fully ready" by their teachers, compared to 55 percent for the 2003–2004 school year, according to the study. Since the state launched these assessments in 2001, about nine percent of Maryland's children have leaped in their ability to succeed in school.

Still, those in the group marked "English language learners" by the study, fell three percent last year in their school readiness, from 40 percent to 37 percent.

Grafwallner is especially concerned about Maryland's Hispanic community. His office has found that a large percentage isn't exposed to group learning until they enter kindergarten. Instead, they spend their days at home, he says, because their parents don't know about alternatives or can't afford day care. Those children who do enroll in preschool courses and programs like Head Start, start school with fewer stumbling blocks—they're often ready to read, and are more open to a structured learning environment. "We're trying to raise awareness in this community, and we're going to stress this even more this year," says Grafwallner.