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Contextualizing Kindergarten Readiness Data: A Qualitative Research Study of the Highland Neighborhood in Spartanburg, South Carolina
Get PDFThis project was undertaken as a result of conversations initiated by members of the Spartanburg Academic Movement (SAM) about the desirability of qualitative data to contextualize quantitative data generated by the use of a validated national instrument in Spartanburg County Schools. SAM is a nonprofit and community movement that facilitates the discussion of shared information and intentional, collaborative, and strategic work by cross-sector partnerships in order to foster high levels of academic attainment for all children in Spartanburg County. As part of data-gathering efforts by SAM, the Early Development Instrument (EDI) was implemented to gather data about kindergarten readiness first in Spartanburg School District 7, then in 2017, across all seven Spartanburg County school districts.
The Highland census tract (census tract 208) in Spartanburg, South Carolina, encompasses a neighborhood landscape with distinct residential zones, identities, and dynamics. The Highland landscape at the time of our data collection includes spaces of positivity and neighborhood engagement: public spaces for recreation, like Stewart Park, and community resources like the Bethlehem Center and Thornton Center. It also is comprised of places, like Norris Ridge, Prince Hall, and certain streets, that residents associated with challenges. In some residential zones,such as Norris Ridge, residents enter and leave the neighborhood with frequency.
there is a strong element of impermanence and transience, as ne