Barrington School District 220 has formalized curriculum plans for its full-day kindergarten program, which is set to launch in August at the start of the 2024-2025 school year..
In a presentation to the school board Dec. 19, Melissa Byrne, assistant superintendent of teaching and learning, joined Becky Gill, director of elementary curriculum and instruction, to detail how extending to a full day of instruction will expand literacy from 90 minutes to two hours and math from 25 minutes to 55 minutes, while allowing for more breaks, individualized instruction and “purposeful play.”
“We do embrace building social skills in that time to explore passions and interests,” Gill said. “We’re also focusing on equitable learning opportunities for students to grow individually and collaboratively in all of our schools.”
SD220 currently enrolls more than 8,100 students across 12 schools, including the Barrington Learning Center for kids in pre-K to K. The district has eight K to 5 schools.
The school district will also host a K-Lab at Barrington High School which will focus on experiential learning, student mentorship and personalized learning led by high school teachers and student teachers for about 46 kindergarten students who opt-into the program.
“We’re making sure we can optimize the use of the high school facility as we optimize design of the experiential learning experience,” Byrne told the board. “We’ll design personalized learning profiles for each of the K-Lab students … meeting the needs of each individual learner.”
The board voted 7-0 during the meeting to work with staff from Itasca-based DLA Architects to renovate existing space at the high school for this program – adding two additional kindergarten classrooms in the district.
The district’s start of full day kindergarten next school year is ahead of the requirement set months ago by the Pritzker administration. In August, Gov. J.B. Pritker signed a bill into law that called for school districts in the state to offer full day kindergarten by the 2027-2028 school year.
“Full day kindergarten is an essential step towards getting young Illinoisans off to the best possible start in their education, which has long-lasting positive effects on reading, math, and social skills,” Pritzker said.
In SD220, students who participate in the K-Lab will be bussed first to Roslyn Road Elementary School then shuttled to the high school. Originally, staff considered bussing kindergarteners with high school students and operating the program on the high school schedule, but board members expressed concern about mixing kindergartners with high schoolers.
The district plans to begin Feb. 1 presenting to parents the various kindergarten options that will be offered in the fall, said Superintendent Craig Winkelman.
The kindergarten school day will begin at 8:05 a.m. with a morning meeting followed by two hours of literacy, a break, social studies, science and health three times a week, followed by lunch and recess. The afternoon begins at 11:55 a.m. with 55 minutes of math, followed by such specials as music, art and more until dismissal at 2:35 p.m.
Elizabeth Owens-Schiele is a freelancer.
