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RAYNE - The pre-k program at Central Rayne Kindergarten was recently recognized on the state’s “Honor Roll” list for childhood education programs.
CRK’s pre-k program received a rating of “Excellence” which is the highest possible ranking. Only 90 sites in the state were recognized in the “Excellence” category.
CRK is the only site in Acadia parish to receive this honor.
“We are very proud of all our teachers here at Central Rayne Kindergarten,” stated CRK Principal Christy Higginbotham. “We are especially proud of the acknowledgement our pre-k teachers have received with the excellence rating.”
The Louisiana Department of Education announced that nearly 300 early childhood education programs earned a spot on the state’s “Honor Roll” as a result of high performance in 2017-2018. The announcement came a week before the state released the annual early childhood performance profiles and K-12 school report cards in the Louisiana School and Center Finder.
“Louisiana took a great step forward when it began publicly reporting the performance of early childhood centers alongside their counterparts in K-12 systems,” said State Superintendent John White. “The Honor Roll released today complements that effort by recognizing and rewarding the sites that achieved remarkable success this past year. We applaud these sites for providing families, particularly those who are economically disadvantaged, with access to high quality care and for acting as models for excellence and growth.”
“These are standout centers that really highlight the work being done throughout Louisiana. We are caring for our earliest learners in safe, emotionally supportive and educational environments, and because of that, our entire educational spectrum will benefit,” said Tony Davis, who represents District 4 on the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education. “Our state is being well served by its investment in early childhood education, and I hope we can continue to raise funding to expand these kinds of gains.”
The Honor Roll recognizes early childhood programs, including early childhood centers, Head Start and pre-kindergarten, in three categories:
• Excellence: Sites on this list achieved a rating of “Excellent,” the highest possible rating, on the annual performance evaluation. The evaluation tool that informs the rating is used nationally and internationally, meaning the sites on this list are among the best in the world.
• Birth to Three: Sites on this list provided high quality instruction and care to the state’s youngest learners, children birth through age three. This is significant because Louisiana serves far fewer economically disadvantaged children birth through age three, and early childhood sites typically score lower in performance categories related to these age groups.
• Top Gains: Sites on this list significantly improved their performance from one year to the next.
Overall, 299 sites made the Honor Roll for 2017-2018, up from 220 sites the previous year. Of that total, 90 were recognized in the “Excellence” category, 153 were recognized in the “Birth to Three” category, and 56 were recognized in the “Top Gains” category. View all Honor Roll results.
Each site on the Honor Roll received a special badge on their performance profiles in the Louisiana School and Center Finder to signify the accomplishment, as well as a state certificate to display on-site.
The Honor Roll, now in its second year, accompanies the annual release of performance ratings. As of last year, all publicly funded early childhood education sites in Louisiana now receive an annual performance rating from the state. The overall performance ratings are based on classroom observations of the interactions between teachers and children, and are reported in four categories: Excellent, Proficient, Approaching Proficient and Unsatisfactory. These ratings appear in an interactive, online performance profile that also displays information about the level of training teachers have and the quality of materials used in each classroom.