The new mandatory kindergarten classes in Buffalo are expected to help two academically struggling groups of city students: the poor and those who have English as a second language.
School officials are expected to have more details on Wednesday for a special meeting of the school board on getting ready for what are expected to be several hundred additional kindergarten students under a new state law making it mandatory.
Some of those students will come from pre-K classes like Head Start and some will be in school for the first time.
Board Member Theresa Harris-Tigg is a former city school teacher and now studies education issues as an assistant professor in the English Department at Buffalo State.
"I'm with little kids quite often. They have the ability to learn quite quickly, if they are exposed to things that will enhance their literacy and so forth," said Harris-Tigg, who also speaks from experience as a parent and grandparent.
"I think teachers can tell right from the beginning in kindergarten what their exposure and experiences have been."
Harris-Tigg says some young people have been exposed to talking and issues around a family dinner table while others haven't and those kids really benefit from kindergarten and being there every day.
She says they hear words and sentences and learn their alphabet in an educational system where kindergarten is school, not just playtime and a nap.
