SB2671 SD1

SECTION 1. The legislature finds that pursuant to Act 219, Session Laws of Hawaii 2004, a two-tier junior kindergarten and kindergarten program was established with the requirement that developmentally appropriate curriculum be implemented for each tier. The program to be established was intended to be flexible enough to allow junior kindergarten students who are ready to participate in kindergarten to do so and to allow students who require additional support to move from kindergarten to junior kindergarten. The department of education was tasked with assisting the schools in the development of the two-tier program with pilot strategies being encouraged during the 2005-2006 school year and full implementation being required beginning with the 2006-2007 school year.

It was the legislature's intent to provide for a curriculum with appropriately differentiated teaching strategies for all junior kindergarteners and kindergarteners that specifically addressed the needs of junior kindergarteners, as children of ages four and five possess differing skill sets and social and emotional maturity levels.

The purpose of this Act is to:

(1) Require developmentally appropriate assessments of junior kindergarten and kindergarten students;

(2) Establish a curriculum with appropriately differentiated teaching strategies for all junior kindergarteners and kindergarteners for the junior kindergarten program;

(3) Require the department of education to staff junior kindergartens with qualified teachers with early childhood education backgrounds and experience;

(4) Require the development and incorporation of the Hawaii preschool content standards for four-year olds and the Hawaii content and performance standards for five year olds; and

(5) Appropriate funds for the implementation of a junior kindergarten program that achieves a student to teacher ratio of ten-to-one and not greater than fifteen-to-one.

SECTION 2. Section 302A-411, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended to read as follows:

"§302A-411 Junior kindergarten and kindergarten program; establishment; attendance. (a) The department shall establish and maintain junior kindergartens and kindergartens with a program of instruction as a part of the public school system; provided that:

(1) Attendance shall not be mandatory; and

(2) Charter schools shall be excluded from mandatory participation in the program.

(b) The department shall establish a two-tier junior kindergarten and kindergarten program to support the range of developmental abilities of children in junior kindergarten and kindergarten. [~~Any school may move~~] All schools shall base decisions about moving students between junior kindergarten and kindergarten [~~as the school deems appropriate. Junior kindergarten students may graduate directly to grade one.~~] on developmentally appropriate assessments. The assessment process shall include academic, social, physical, and emotional domains. The assessment process shall include the gathering of information from parents, teachers, and related services personnel who have direct knowledge of the child. Assessments shall be made to facilitate the developmentally appropriate learning environment for the child, including initial screening to determine a child's readiness for learning, then ongoing formative assessments for learning progress.

During the 2009-2010 school year, the department shall develop guidelines for appropriate assessment. Beginning in 2010-2011, the assessment process shall be used for screening, continuous monitoring, and decision making to measure the appropriate learning setting.

The program shall include curricula that is delivered through differentiated instructional strategies for junior kindergarten and kindergarten students that are tailored to the specific needs and abilities of students in each tier. In developing the choices of curriculum for the junior kindergarten tier, the department shall incorporate the Hawaii preschool content standards for four-year olds and the Hawaii content and performance standards for five-year olds. The program shall include any or all of the following models:

(1) Classrooms composed exclusively of either junior kindergarten or kindergarten students;

(2) Coordination with public, private, or public-private entities to address the needs of junior kindergarten-eligible students within the [~~school's community;~~] schools; and

(3) The blending of junior kindergarten and kindergarten students in a single classroom[.] with developmentally appropriate curriculum and instructional strategies.

(c) Beginning with the 2004-2005 school year, a child who will be at least five years of age on or before December 31 of the school year may attend a public school kindergarten. Beginning with the 2006-2007 school year, a child who will be at least five years of age on or before August 1 of the school year may attend a public school kindergarten. Beginning with the 2006-2007 school year, a child who will be at least five years of age after August 1 and before January 1 of the school year may attend a public school junior kindergarten.

(d) The department shall create the categories of qualified teachers to be hired for junior kindergartens beginning with the 2009-2010 school year. The qualifications of teachers and preschool teacher aides that will be hired shall be as follows:

(1) Qualified teachers shall have at a minimum a bachelor's degree from an accredited teacher preparation program with licensure for pre-kindergarten through grade three or experience in early childhood education and enrollment in a teacher preparation program to become a licensed early teacher within two years; and

(2) Educational assistants who are hired for junior kindergarten, at minimum, shall have a high school degree or be enrolled in an appropriate higher education program focused on early childhood education with a goal of completing a degree in early childhood education.

[~~(d)~~] (e) The department may accept gifts to establish and maintain junior kindergartens and kindergartens."

SECTION 3. The department of education shall complete the planning and development of the appropriate assessment, including procedures and guidelines for the junior kindergarten program and submit findings and recommendations to the legislature on the planned curriculum, information on successful models, assessment guidelines for the developmentally appropriate assessment process for screening and continuous monitoring to provide data for decisions on movement between the junior kindergarten and kindergarten tiers and first grade, and the facilities to be used for the junior kindergarten program no later than twenty days prior to the convening of the regular session of 2009.

SECTION 4. There is appropriated out of the general revenues of the State of Hawaii the sum of $ or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2008-2009 for implementation of the junior kindergarten program as established pursuant to this Act that endeavors to achieve a student to teacher ratio of ten-to-one and not greater than fifteen-to-one.

The sum appropriated shall be expended by the department of education for the purposes of this Act.

SECTION 5. Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed and stricken. New statutory material is underscored.

SECTION 6. This Act shall take effect on July 1, 2008.

THE SENATE	S.B. NO.	2671
TWENTY-FOURTH LEGISLATURE, 2008		S.D. 1
STATE OF HAWAII