Children at the Jackson Early Childhood Development Centers recorded a 40% increase in kindergarten readiness scores in the 2020-2021 session. Jackson Department of Human and Cultural Services Director Adriane Dorsey-Kidd credited grants from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation for funding the activities, which led to the improvement, in her comments to the city council on Tuesday, Aug. 17.

"The State of Mississippi—the Department of Education—mandates a score when you come to kindergarten; that score is 498. Oftentimes, the more affluent schools, because they have resources, are able to make sure that their children are at that score. And our kids coming from less affluent areas are not as lucky," she said.

Dorsey-Kidd told the Jackson Free Press by phone on Wednesday, Aug. 18, that the children in the City’s early childhood program are in 11 locations, mainly in south and west Jackson. Those areas, she said, "usually have the highest rate of poverty. And we were just trying to make sure those children received the specialized training."

"And so when we started, we did a pretest, and 70% of the kids were below the mark. When we finished, 50% of the kids were way above the mark, which means when they get to kindergarten, they're either already reading, or they'll be reading within the first three months. We were proud of that work,” she said.

They ended the session with an average score of 515.

The director told the city council Tuesday that the department has attracted multiple grants, and the one from W.K. Kellogg Foundation helped to hire coaches to help the 4- and 5-year-old children prepare and to purchase the assessment tests.

"We are beginning the next cycle of coaching, exposing, and testing this school year," she said in a text message to the Jackson Free Press on Thursday, Aug. 19, adding that 60 children participated last year, which she said is an “extremely low” number due to pandemic closures.

On Tuesday, the city council approved $50,000 to pay individuals from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation grant for early childhood test administration, teacher assistant coaching, teacher coaching and evaluator services. "W.K. Kellogg Foundation has awarded the City of Jackson, Mississippi funds to establish a quality foundation of prekindergarten services that will ensure Jackson’s four-and five-year-old residents enter kindergarten ready to learn," the orders said.

"We purchased the same curriculum that a Jackson Public School is using because, for the most part, that's where our kids would matriculate to," Dorsey-Kidd told the council Tuesday. "And we're trying to make sure they have the same professional development that Jackson Public School teachers have so that we can all be on the same page."

"And that's part of the contract with the coaches and everything, utilizing best practices, modeling the behavior, engaging the parents, engaging the students, so that we could have a better, the best outcome that we could have."

The council also on Tuesday approved $62,344 as a matching grant for the Senior AIDES Program, which since 1972 has offered part-time employment training opportunities to low-income individuals 55 years and older, covering July 1, 2021, to June 30, 2022.

Last year, the CIty of Jackson had 13 participants in the program, according to the information the Department of Human and Cultural Services provided in its budget presentation to the city council last week.

"The senior Aides program is designed to integrate seniors back into corporate America, decrease stigma and increase employability among seniors," the document said.

Email story tips to city/county reporter Kayode Crown at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter at @kayodecrown.