TORRINGTON – It’s tough to build on sand, and every strong building needs a strong foundation. 

That’s the philosophy behind transitional kindergarten, a program Goshen County School District No. 1 Superintendent Ryan Kramer hopes to launch in the district’s elementary schools. He’s looking at a pilot program at Lincoln Elementary School in Torrington next year, and if it’s successful, there is potential for growth. 

Transitional kindergarten, Kramer said, is a program for students who are technically of-age to attend kindergarten, but could benefit from a year of a less intense program to be better prepared for their academic career. 

“It would be focusing on those students that are not necessarily kindergarten ready,” Kramer said. “They’re still ready for a five day-a-week program, but need some extra assistance at a lower level. They will enter kindergarten extremely ready the following year. 

“We’re excited to look at that opportunity and possibly pilot that at Lincoln for next year.”

Traditionally, a student’s birth date has been the main factor to determine kindergarten readiness. Kramer said the addition of a transitional kindergarten program would allow the district to look at other criteria in order to best set up students for success in the future. 

“We still have that number of students within that group that could possibly not be emotionally ready for kindergarten,” he said. “Really, birth date is a healthy indicator, but it’s not the one driving force. We all know those students that maybe had a June birthday that were very high achievers that were ready for kindergarten. We also have those students we had in April that typically would have gone into the kindergarten program, but might not necessarily be ready for kindergarten. They would benefit from a year of transitional kindergarten.”

Lincoln Elementary Principal Nyanna Sims and teacher Rachel Gurney spoke to the Goshen County School District No. 1 Board of Trustees Tuesday night and vocally advocated for the program. 

“I have been at Lincoln the last two years,” Sims said. “We have had four year-olds who have started school because they would make the five year-old cutoff in September. Since we start in early August, a lot of those kiddos start school because their alternatives are  limited as far as what their parents can have them do during the year that they were held back. 

“Our screeners show if our students are academically ready, as well as emotionally ready. It’s really hard to have that conversation to tell parents to wait one more year and wait for them to develop when mom and dad have to work. They want their kids to be in some sort of educational setting. I’m excited about the opportunity.”

Gurney told the board there are students who are currently enrolled in kindergarten who were born close to the cutoff date who would have benefitted from the program. 

“One of the things we looked at when we talked about transitional kindergarten is the kids we have this year,” she said.  “Of the 18 kids we had, 16 of them have behavior concerns or social-emotional struggles. Two of them are fine, but 16 of them struggle. Some kids just need an extra year to play and have that time before they have to get into that academic portion.” 

Kramer and other school officials recently visited Burns Elementary School, which currently utilizes a transitional kindergarten program.  He said the experience was interesting and that Burns and Pine Bluffs Elementary, which shares the program with Burns, have seen success with the program. 

“I was really excited after yesterday, getting to go to Burns and see their program,” Kramer said. “They’re in their second year, and I think we have a really great opportunity to help those kids next year.”

The GCSD pilot program would be at Lincoln, and the district will wait to see how its received and utilized before evaluating how it will be implemented at other schools. 

“It will be interesting to see,” Kramer said. “Right now, currently, Burns and Pine Bluffs share a program. It was located in Pine Bluffs last year because of their enrollment. Then this year, because of their enrollment, they had it located in Burns. We’ll really have to analyze the need and take a look and have further conversation around that. We’ll base it on the success of this program and the interest at Lincoln Elementary. We’re wanting to pilot it, progress with it and see what expansion needs might be available at other schools within the district.”

While launching a new program is a slow process, Kramer said it’s “highly likely” the GCSD will have a transitional kindergarten program.

“I’m very supportive of it,” he said. “Coming from a district that has had a transitional kindergarten for over 20 years, and it had a great deal of success. Having three children, two out of three utilized transitional kindergarten because of their birthdates and their needs. I think my kids have significantly benefited from that, as opposed to if they were just entering kindergarten without that benefit. I feel very strongly about it and I feel we have a good plan going forward. We’ll have some further discussions on it and hopefully have some more information to dispense to parents looking at the program for next year.”