Even though the percentage of students reading at goal in grade 3 on the CMT has increased, we are committed to increasing the number of children who can read at goal and have identified several obstacles we need to address.We believe one barrier that has prevented Plymouth 3rd graders from reading at goal is a lack of a preschool experience.While the number of students in Plymouth with a preschool experience exceeds the state average, approximately 10% of Plymouth children have never had a pre-school experience. While this number may not seem alarmingly high, it is problematic as expectations for students in Kindergarten are continually becoming more challenging.With the adoption of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS), elementary school curricula has been increasingly rigorous.

You will also note in the above chart that the percentage of kindergarten students with a preschool experience dropped from 93.2% in 2008-2009 to 84 % in 2009-2010. This was due to the number of Plymouth residents affected by the economic crisis and the fact that many Plymouth residents lost their jobs. Parents, who lost their job, would stay at home with their preschool child rather than spending their limited resources to send their child to a preschool program.

Plymouth Early Childhood Council

United Way

Service Clubs

Parent Leadership Training Institute

http://gradelevelreading.net/our-work/school-readiness

Sustain and build Plymouth’s Preschool Scholarship Fund – needs based financial assistance for Plymouth families four year old child attending a “parent’s choice” preschool in the Plymouth community.

Engage families and offer support by implementing the following:

▪ Continue and expand the Pre-K Fair - to enable families to connect to area resources and learn about reduced fees/scholarship opportunities, care for kids and school readiness availability

What has been accomplished to assist Plymouth’s youngest citizens: