Thorpe receives 4-star rating for early learning

The numbers are in, and Jim Thorpe Area School District’s Pre K Counts has scored a coveted four-star rating from the Keystone STARS initiative.

Keystone STARS — Standards, Training/Professional Development, Assistance, Resources and Support — is a product of the Office of Child Development and Early Learning that seeks “to improve, support, and recognize the continuous quality improvement efforts of early learning programs in Pennsylvania.”

“We are thrilled that our drive and commitment to make our program the best it can be in regards to early childhood standards and learning attained highest degree accreditation,” Katherine Doll, coordinator of academic resources for the district, said. “It is a direct result of the hard work, the commitment to quality care, the ensuring of a safe learning environment, and in attaining additional training certifications by staff and coordinator that made this possible.”

Jim Thorpe’s Pre K Counts runs out of the Penn Kidder Campus and the high school, with about 40 students split between the buildings. Around 400 3- and 4-year old students have gone through the program since its inception.

The standards

Keystone STARS includes a series of certifications and standards based on early childhood education research. Institutions can apply for any STARS level, but each subsequent level builds off the previous criteria.

The first level focuses on health and safety certifications and compliance, while level two targets a program’s commitment to quality and pursuit of improvements. Levels three and four are based on program observation and analysis, where points are awarded based on meeting or exceeding program standards.

For example, a Pre K Counts program may receive three points if 25 percent or more of all staff members are enrolled in or have completed an academic program to support achievement of their next education level, and a member of the program’s on-site leadership team is enrolled in or holds a current PA Director’s Credential, whereas the program would receive seven points if 75 percent of staff members hit that bench mark.

“At the end of the day, there’s so much research out there showing that early childhood education is so important in a child’s life,” Superintendent Brian Gasper said. “The earlier that we get them, the better off they’ll be, and they’ll have a better foundation in academics as they move forward. If we can get more kids in a fantastic program like this, everyone will benefit from it, especially the kids.”

Jim Thorpe’s Pre K Counts is the first four-star program in the region, as the OCDEL just recently opened up the initiative to early education efforts in school districts, whereas it had previously been limited to day care centers and similar institutions.

Pre K Counts teacher Lynn Curran said that their program is inherently valuable for the students and district, as it provides a solid foundation for future education.

“I like being in the program, because you can watch the kids grow and mature. It helps them develop into the future students that they will be,” she said. “They get the socialization skills that they’ll need in kindergarten, and with that early start, they’re getting what they need to know for kindergarten. A lot of kids don’t get that if they don’t go to a program like this.”

The beginning

Jim Thorpe’s well-lauded program began in the 2008-2009 school year, when Doll and teacher Kate Harleman joined forces to build it from the ground up. Both Doll and Harleman agree that their own standards for Pre K Counts classes aimed high, not only meeting, but exceeding expectations for a quality education that partners the district with families and guardians to ensure a well-rounded education.

However, attaining the Keystone STARS rating required even more work on the part of Doll, Harleman and Curran, who invested more than 120 hours to make the mark.

“The Pre-K Counts program already has that in place for most of it. It was a lot more paperwork, but we already had everything in place. We already had the structure set up, everything they needed for us to do,” Harleman said. “Pre K Counts, on its own, already has a great foundation. They already require a high level of education, this just added more to it.”

“It was a natural fit, our next progression,” Doll said. “It made us step up just a little bit more, to up our game.”

Harleman said that certain elements, like certification for first aid and CPR, along with professional development initiatives that ensure education standards remain relevant, were valuable additions.

The team is already looking toward the future in order to maintain their pedigree, as programs are subject to recertification on a yearly basis. Gasper mentioned the prospect of adding another instructor to the mix, while Harleman said that they may explore other opportunities for professional development.

“I couldn’t be happier for the group here,” Gasper said. “There’s a lot of hard work and effort that has gone into this program, and I think it’s been a five-star program for many years now. We’re just now being recognized for that by the Keystone STARS. It’s a great program.”