Apalachee High School, Wednesday, Sept. 4 and Joppatowne High School, Friday, Sept. 6. with hearts over maps of Georgia and Maryland

As we celebrated the start of the school year last week, two other school communities were struck by tragedy. Our hearts and prayers go out to everyone touched by the shootings Wednesday, Sept. 4 at Apalachee High School in Winder, Ga. and Friday, Sept. 6 at Joppatowne High School in Harford County, Md. Our staff, including our school counselors and social workers, will be available to talk to students here if they need support. Maintaining safe schools is a community-wide effort. If you see something, say something. Tips can be reported anonymously through Kent County Public Schools’ mobile app. The app also sends out push notifications to provide information and instructions should there be an incident. Our app is available for free on the Apple App Store and Google Play; search “Kent County Public Schools.”

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Kent County

Public Schools

Pillar 1: Early Childhood Education

Early Childhood Education

Goal: To significantly expand high-quality full-day prekindergarten and to make it free for all eligible students ages 3-4 so all children can begin kindergarten ready to learn.

Historic Implementation

• Universal 4-year-old pre-K in all elementary schools

• Partial-day 3-year-old pre-K for select students with disabilities at Rock Hall Elementary School

• Quality rating at H.H. Garnet Elementary School

• Judy Center Early Learning Hub at H.H. Garnet Elementary School

Current Implementation

• Full-day 3-year-old pre-K for select students with disabilities at Rock Hall Elementary School

• Engaging private pre-K providers to expand seats for eligible 3-year-olds

• Judy Center Early Learning Hubs established at Galena and Rock Hall elementary schools

• Working toward quality rating at Galena and Rock Hall elementary schools

Future Implementation

• Enhance and expand seats for 3-year-olds in private partnerships

• Expand 3-year-old seats in KCPS elementary schools

• Achieve quality ratings for Galena and Rock Hall elementary schools

Access to High Quality, Full-Day Pre-K

Kent County Public Schools serves all interested 4-year-olds in a universal 4-year-old prekindergarten program at Galena, H.H. Garnet and Rock Hall elementary schools.

We operate a full-day 3-year-old pre-k program at Rock Hall Elementary School for students at or below 300% of the federal poverty level who have special needs.

KCPS is planning an expansion of its 3-year-old program to Galena and H.H. Garnet elementary schools.

MD EXCELS Quality Rating System

Maryland EXCELS is the state’s quality rating and improvement system for child care and early education programs that meet nationally recognized quality standards. MD EXCELS rates the quality of child care and early education programs on a scale of 1 to 5. Programs with a quality rating of 5 meet the highest standards in MD EXCELS and are state or nationally accredited.

In Kent County Public Schools, H.H. Garnet Elementary School has a quality rating of 5.

In fall 2023, Galena and Rock Hall elementary schools began the process of demonstrating a quality rating.

A High-Quality, Mixed-Delivery (Public And Private) Pre-K System

The Blueprint requires that by fiscal year 2023, 30% of pre-K slots will be offered by private providers. This goal increases to 50% in fiscal year 2027.

Kent County Public Schools has one private pre-K provider, Kinder Connections, located in Betterton. With a total of 98 students enrolled in pre-K and only three offered in the private setting, we have attained a 3.18% rate of private pre-K enrollment.

Still, we are committed to engaging with private child care centers and daycare providers to create new partnerships for private pre-K.

Judy Center Expansion

The Judith P. Hoyer Center Early Learning Hubs, also known as Judy Centers, benefit everyone in Maryland by improving the quality of life for families. Through a dedicated staff of early learning professionals, they help prepare children age birth through kindergarten for school readiness.

The Blueprint sets a goal of creating 135 new Judy Centers by fiscal year 2030.

Galena, H.H. Garnet and Rock Hall Elementary School logos (gator, tiger, crab)

Kent County Public Schools has historically operated a Judy Center at H.H. Garnet Elementary School. In fiscal year 2024, we were awarded two Judy Center Expansion Grants, allowing us to operate centers at each of our elementary schools.

Learn more about the Judy Center Partnership at earlychildhood.marylandpublicschools.org/families/judy-centers.

Kindergarten Readiness

Kent County Public Schools employees are trained to administer the Kindergarten Readiness Assessment (KRA) by October of every school year. After the administration of the KRA, the Early Childhood team analyzes the KRA data to determine where early childhood teachers should focus their use of the Early Learning Assessment (ELA). The ELA allows staff to monitor the 18 high leverage Skills, Knowledge and Behavior criteria (SKBs).

As the KRA is phased out by the Maryland State Department of Education, KCPS will still focus on implementation of the ELA.

Kent County Public Schools is pleased with the progress its programs have made in supporting student readiness for kindergarten. Available data on kindergarten readiness shows that we have increased overall readiness by 9.6 points. We are most proud of the progress made with our Hispanic/Latino students who saw a 20.1-point increase in readiness from the 2022-23 school year to the 2023-24 school year.