A CRDG evaluation team has completed the administration of the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT) to 280 children in two “zones of school innovation” as defined by Hawai‘i’s Race to the Top program. The two zones, one in the Ka‘ū-Kea‘au-Pāhoa area and the other in the Nānākuli-Wai‘anae area, were established to support struggling school, and as part of this effort, school readiness was chosen as one of the focus areas. Few children who live within these zones entered school with any pre-kindergarten education, so the Race to the Top program aimed to provide these students with a range of culturally relevant and quality early education experiences. Families within the two zones received subsidies for their children to attend preschool, and progress toward increased school readiness was tracked by administration of the PPVT before and after their preschool experience.
CRDG’s role in supporting the Hawai‘i Department of Education (HIDOE) in this goal was to provide a team of data collectors who had previously worked with the University of Hawai‘i’s Center on the Family to develop local capacity in the area of effective evaluation techniques for use with young children.