PSSD kindergarteners doing 6% better now with learning than in 2019, data shows

A comparison of pre- and post-pandemic data in Prairie South School Division shows that kindergarten students are doing six-per-cent better now than four years ago in most learning areas.

Kindergarten teachers are responsible for administering the Early Years Evaluation Teacher Assessment (EYE-TA) each fall — as the Ministry of Education mandates — and then re-assessing certain pupils in the spring if they experienced some or significant difficulty in the initial evaluation. 

Prairie South (PSSD) kindergarten teachers assessed 426 pupils between Oct. 17 and Nov. 28, 2022, in six areas or domains. Those domains included awareness of self and environment (domain 1), social skills and approaches to learning (domain 2), cognitive skills (domain 3), language and communication (domain 4), physical development of fine motor skills (domain 5) and physical development of gross motor skills (domain 6). 

An early learning accountability report — presented during the PSSD board meeting on March 7 — showed that:

• Domain 1, 86.6 per cent were at appropriate development or tier 1, 10.8 per cent were experiencing some difficulty or at tier 2, and 12 per cent were experiencing significant difficulty or at tier 3
• Domain 2, 86.6 per cent were at tier 1, 16.4 per cent were at tier 2 and 2.6 per cent were at tier 3
• Domain 3, 63.7 per cent were at tier 1, 29.3 per cent were at tier 2 and seven per cent were at tier 3
• Domain 4, 82.6 per cent were at tier 1, 13.6 per cent were at tier 2 and 3.8 per cent were at tier 3
• Domain 5, 70.4 per cent were at tier 1, 24.4 per cent were at tier 2 and 5.2 per cent were at tier 3
• Domain 6, 81.5 per cent were at tier 1, 17.2 per cent were at tier 2 and 1.4 per cent were at tier 3
• Overall, 63 per cent of students were at tier 1, 25 per cent of students were at tier 2 and 12 per cent were at tier 3

In comparison, data from 2019 shows that of the 460 kindergarten pupils evaluated:

• Domain 1: 86.1 per cent were at tier 1, 11.5 per cent were at tier 2 and 2.4 per cent were at tier 3
• Domain 2: 78.9 per cent were at tier 1, 17.2 per cent were at tier 2 and 3.9 per cent were at tier 3
• Domain 3: 61.1 per cent were at tier 1, 30.9 per cent were at tier 2 and eight per cent were at tier 3
• Domain 4: 83.2 per cent were at tier 1, 14.8 per cent were at tier 2 and two per cent were at tier 3
• Domain 5: 74.4 per cent were at tier 1, 21.5 per cent were at tier 2 and 4.1 per cent were at tier 3
• Domain 6: 79.6 per cent were at tier 1, 18.7 per cent were at tier 2 and 1.7 per cent were at tier 3
• Overall, 57 per cent were at tier 1, 32 per cent were at tier 2 and 11 per cent were at tier 3

The report indicated that from 2019 to 2022, the overall percentage of students in tier 1 increased by six per cent. 

Broken down, domain 1 increased by 0.5 per cent, domain 2 increased by 1.7 per cent, domain 3 increased by 2.6 per cent, domain 4 decreased by 0.6 per cent, domain 5 decreased by four per cent and domain 6 increased by 1.9 per cent. Therefore, the division saw growth in four of the six domains. 

The report noted that while language and communication and fine motor physical development were areas of concern, neither came as a surprise in a post-pandemic environment. 

The next PSSD board meeting is Tuesday, April 4.