Union County curriculum committee hears plan for play-based kindergarten pilot at Shiloh Valley Primary

The Union County Public Schools Curriculum Committee on June 24 heard an information-only presentation on a proposed play-based learning pilot intended for nine kindergarten classrooms at Shiloh Valley Primary School. Dr. Hulahan introduced the item and said the pilot aims to marry academic goals with social and behavioral instruction to better prepare children for first grade.

Dr. Rogers, who led the presentation, told the committee that structured play differs from free play because it is teacher-designed, aligned to standards and intended to produce observable learning outcomes. "Structured play is teacher-designed and facilitated. It's aligned to teaching and learning instruction where there is a focus on specific skills and standards and learning outcomes are intentional and not only intentional but observable," she said. Rogers described expected benefits including improved executive-functioning skills, self-regulation, planning, collaborative problem-solving and sustained attention.

The district cited partnerships and external examples: staff have been learning from Cabarrus County Schools, which Rogers said has used the model in every kindergarten classroom for three years, and Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools has expressed interest. The proposal calls for phased implementation: spring planning and professional development, family engagement at the start of the year, progress monitoring during fall–spring and a midyear or end-of-year evaluation to determine whether to scale the approach to other elementary schools.

Committee members asked for additional data. A member requested disciplinary-referral statistics for every UCPS elementary school; Dr. Rogers agreed to provide that information. In the presentation the district reported increases in reading and math proficiency figures described in the meeting as "about 70–73%" for the past school year; the transcript contained inconsistent numbers and the district will need to confirm exact figures in its formal materials. The presentation noted that Shiloh Valley Primary is a Title I K–2 building and that Principal Lindseay Williams led the local behavior task force that developed the pilot.

The item was informational only; there was no committee vote on the pilot itself. District staff said they plan to return to the committee midyear or toward the end of the school year with preliminary data from progress monitoring and state benchmarks so the board can weigh expansion.

Next steps: the pilot is scheduled to begin this fall at Shiloh Valley Primary and staff will provide requested districtwide disciplinary-referral data and subsequent evaluation results to the committee for further consideration.