With the COVID-19 pandemic now in the rearview mirror, Prairie South School Division is seeing seven-per-cent growth in evaluation data of its kindergarten students and their physical, mental and linguistic skills.
Kindergarten educators administer the provincial Early Years Evaluation Teacher Assessment (EYE-TA) each fall, while they reassess students in the spring who struggled during the first test, a board report explained.
The six skills — or domains — that teachers assess include:
- Awareness of self and environment
- Social skills and approaches to learning
- Cognitive skills
- Language and communication
- Physical development (fine motor)
- Physical development (gross motor)
Based on how students do, they may be placed in tier 1, tier 2 or tier 3, or categorized as appropriate development, experiencing some difficulty or experiencing significant difficulty.
The report noted that when comparing pre-pandemic data from November 2019 to November 2023, Prairie South saw an increase of seven per cent in total data, while it saw growth in all six domains. In particular, the division saw “significant growth” in the areas of cognitive skills, physical development and language and communication.
The data shows that in November 2019, the overall percentage of students in tier 1 was 57 per cent, while in November 2023, that number rose to 64 per cent, a seven-per-cent jump.
Furthermore, other tier 1 data from those two timeframes show:
- Awareness of self and environment (Domain 1): 86.1 per cent / 88.8 per cent; an increase of 2.7 per cent
- Social skills and approaches to learning (Domain 2): 78.9 per cent / 81.9 per cent; a jump of three per cent
- Cognitive skills (Domain 3): 61.1 per cent / 68 per cent; an increase of 6.9 per cent
- Language and communication (Domain 4): 83.2 per cent / 85.6 per cent; a jump of 2.4 per cent
- Fine motor physical development (Domain 5): 74.4 per cent / 75 per cent; an increase of 0.6 per cent
- Gross motor physical development (Domain 6): 79.6 per cent / 88.6 per cent; an increase of nine per cent
The division assessed 396 kindergarten students in fall 2023 as part of the EYE-TA program, with data showing the number of children experiencing appropriate development was:
- 350 pupils in domain 1
- 324 students in domain 2
- 268 pupils in domain 3
- 337 students in domain 4
- 297 pupils in domain 5
- 350 students in domain 6
In comparison, data from fall 2022 show that of the 426 kindergarten students assessed, the number of children experiencing appropriate development in the respective domains was 368, 342, 271, 352, 300 and 347.
After reassessing 161 youths in spring 2023, the number of students demonstrating proficiency (tier 1) in those six domains increased to, respectively, 407, 394, 396, 391, 403 and 409.
“I really appreciate the chart that shows the pre- and post-pandemic (data), because I think it really shows we’ve bounced back from things,” said trustee Crystal Froese, pointing to the “significant increase” in the data from 2022 to 2023.
“It shows you how important it is, the interaction students receive in the classroom environment, (and) how it has an overall positive impact in so many ways,” she continued, adding the education sector learned what students lost when the pandemic hit.
The next Prairie South board meeting is Tuesday, April 9.
