The McMinnville School District has been named a first-place winner in the 2021 Magna Awards, a National School Boards Association (NSBA) program. MSD was recognized for the Ready for Kindergarten program for this year’s Magna Awards theme of educational equity.
The district is one of 15 nationwide to be recognized by the NSBA program. The Ready for Kindergarten program is highlighted in the April issue of the American School Board Journal.
MSD’s three-part Ready for Kindergarten workshop series has been running for 10 years in district elementary schools. Targeted to parents with children ages birth to five years old, the free workshops are designed to support parent participants in preparing children with the early learning skills needed to start and stay at grade level throughout their school career.
Using a research-based curriculum, the workshops teach age-appropriate activities that show parents how to talk, sing, read and play with their child in simple ways that foster essential pre-literacy, pre-math and social-emotional skills. Each participating family leaves the workshop with a child development manual and a bag of high-quality, developmentally appropriate toys and books. All Ready for Kindergarten services and resources are provided at no cost to families.
The program has proven effective, with new assessment data that shows children whose parents participated in the Ready for Kindergarten program significantly outperformed nonparticipant children in Marion, Polk and Yamhill counties, as well as the Oregon statewide average, on the Oregon Kindergarten Assessment.
Sponsored by NSBA’s flagship magazine, American School Board Journal, the Magna Awards honor districts across the country for their programs that advance equity and break down barriers for underserved students. MSD was selected as a winner in the 5,000-20,000 enrollment category by an independent panel of school board members, administrators and other educators.
March 29, 2021