Agassi Academy adding kindergarten, first grade

By Emily Richmond (contact)

Wednesday, Jan. 26, 2005 | 9:33 a.m.

Agassi College Preparatory Academy announced Tuesday it will launch its full-day kindergarten and first grade classrooms in August, three years ahead of schedule.

School officials hadn't planned on adding lower grades until well after the high school program was up and running in 2006, said Brian Thomas, executive director of the west Las Vegas charter school. But those plans changed as Agassi Prep administrators considered the wealth of recent research showing the long-term impact of the quality of a child's first years of public education.

Thomas said an offer of sponsorship from McGraw-Hill Learning Group helped make the accelerated timeline possible. The textbook publisher will provide all instructional materials for the new classes, Thomas said.

"Their folks basically gave us the extra push we needed to take the leap," said Thomas, who headed up a private school in Portland, Ore., prior to relocating to Las Vegas this summer.

"They told us we were shooting ourselves in the foot by not starting out with students as early in the learning cycle as possible."

Studies have indicated that students unable to read at grade level by the end of third grade have only a 20 percent chance of ever catching up. Research has also shown students in full-day kindergarten programs are typically more advanced and have greater academic success rates in first grade and beyond than their peers who participate in half-day programs.

Gov. Kenny Guinn, in his State of the State address Monday, said Nevada needs to provide additional funds to struggling schools for innovative programs, including full-day kindergarten.

Even with third grade as its first class, Agassi Prep has made some strong gains on standardized tests over the past few years, Thomas said. But there has continued to be a drop-off in performance when students move to middle school, Thomas said.

"This year not a single one of our new students arrived testing at grade level," Thomas said. "There's a tremendous amount of catch-up work that has to be done before can begin moving forward. Having our own kindergarten and first grade classrooms will give us a better chance of starting students off on the right foot ourselves."

Agassi Prep will have two kindergarten classes each with 22 students. The school will also have two first grade classrooms, each with 20 students.

The school started with grades three and four in 2001 and planned to expand by one grade each successive year through high school. There are currently 300 students enrolled in grades three through eight with a waiting list of more than 300 names. Students are selected for admission through a lottery with priority going to children living in the surrounding west Las Vegas neighborhoods.

As a charter school, Agassi Prep receives the same per-pupil funding amount as traditional public schools in Clark County but has more freedom in curriculum, instruction and hiring. Agassi Prep also counts on numerous partnerships with private companies and organizations, both at the local and national level, to provide financial support and resources.

The charter school's high school program is set to open in 2006 in the new, $18 million annex on Lake Mead Boulevard at J Street.

Agassi Prep will host two community meetings to explain the lottery process for the kindergarten and first grade classes: Friday, Jan. 28 from 3:30 to 5 p.m. and Monday, Jan. 31 from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Both community meetings will be held at the school.