Cub Academy staff preview program, inclusion and new assessments

Staff member Katie presented an overview of Cub Academy, a new preschool program serving 3-to-5-year-olds, and thanked staff for their work preparing the building this summer. She said the program is tracking enrollment closely because weekly preschool assessments move students into classrooms as they are evaluated.

Katie said the district developed its own assessments this summer to avoid buying an external data hub: "So we created our only own Franklin schools instead of paying thousands of dollars, for a data hub and all the pieces." She described two assessment instruments (a 3-year-old assessment and a 4-year-old assessment) that capture foundational skills such as colors, letters and number identification and said families will receive specialized reports three times a year.

The presentation emphasized inclusion and individualized instruction. Katie described developmental preschool classrooms that flex as students are evaluated and moved: "Learning looks different in every single classroom here. Small groups, whole groups, it just depends where you are." She also noted the building provides targeted interventions early — speech-language, occupational and physical therapy — to reduce later needs.