MEASURING PROGRESS
Welcome to our Measuring Progress section. Here we track select indicators and context data that monitor Boston’s progress toward achieving school readiness. We also provide information on our current evaluation of Thrive in 5′s impact and outcomes.
How We Will Measure Success?
By 2018, 100% of Boston’s children will be ready for school by Kindergarten entry.
In 2009, only 54% of Boston’s children entered Kindergarten ready.
By 2014, 75% of Boston’s children entering Kindergarten will be ready, which requires moving 5,000-7,000 children from below ready to ready or above in four years.
“School ready” is currently measured by the DIBELS, a literacy assessment administered by the Boston Public Schools at Kindergarten entry. Literacy is only on piece of school readiness. Therefore, Thrive in 5 is leading a process to identify and implement a set of school readiness measures, from birth through kindergarten, that account for the 5 nationally recognized domains of school readiness.
Thrive in 5 is also tracking a broad set of progress indicators and context data to provide an overall picture of the state of school readiness in Boston. Use the links in the equation on the right to navigate through the progress indicators and context data for each component of Thrive in 5.
In addition, an evaluation of Thrive in 5’s impact and outcomes is currently being designed by our evaluation team.
Thrive in 5′s Evaluation Team
Through a comprehensive and inclusive Request for Proposal process, a University of Massachusetts Boston team of evaluators, led by the McCormack Graduate School’s Center for Social Policy, was selected to serve as Thrive in 5′s external evaluators.
The interdisciplinary team of evaluators includes: Donna Haig Friedman and Mary Coonan from the Center for Social Policy; Alice Carter Department of Psychology; Anne Douglass, Early Education and Care in Inclusive Settings; and Oscar Gutierrez, College of Management.
Between 2010 and June 2011, the team is working to:
1. Design and implement an evaluation of our Boston Children Thrive pilot communities
2. Design an overall evaluation plan for Thrive in 5′s current and planned work
3. Coordinate the evaluations of individual strategies with one another and with Thrive in 5 overall.
We are very excited to be working with this highly qualified and skilled team and look forward to sharing the results of their work.
We owe a great deal of gratitude to our reader and interview committees, whose volunteered time and energy were essential to this process.