About two-thirds of California children ages 3 to 5 are on track to enter kindergarten, according to new federal data. But school readiness involves more than a child’s ability to count or recite their ABCs.
The effort to get a snapshot of kindergarten readiness is part of the National Survey of Children’s Health, which gathered information from thousands of parents and guardians about their child in five areas – early learning, motor skills, social-emotional development, self-regulation and health. The goal was to answer the ultimate question: Is your child ready for school?
Readiness in California is in line with the national average, which puts kindergarten readiness at two-thirds of 3- to 5-year-olds. But there is a big difference. The gap in preschool readiness between the poorest and richest families is nearly 20%.
Despite the growing interest in assessing school readiness, education experts differ on what should be measured and how. And others debate whether children should be ready for school or whether schools should be better prepared to meet the needs of preschoolers.
Despite the difficulties, what a young child learns before entering classrooms can set the tone for the rest of his academic career, experts say.
What is kindergarten readiness?
Kindergarten readiness includes the basic skills needed to participate in a structured learning environment, says Ohio State University educational psychology professor Laura Justice.
Although there is no universal definition, many experts and educators rely on guidance from the bipartisan National Education Goals Panel, with criteria similar to questions asked by the federal survey.
School readiness is a relatively new concept, with panel guidelines emerging in the 1990s. Historically, there haven’t been many expectations for preschoolers, although some students — often from higher-income families — have arrived in classrooms with more advanced skills than others, said Robert Crosnoe, a sociology professor at the University of Texas at Austin. That meant districts had to provide rich learning opportunities before children entered kindergarten — so they could learn not only their ABCs but skills like conversation and problem solving during play.
“As long as we focus on those higher education things, it will only get us so far,” Crosnoe said.
Is your child ready for kindergarten? It is not an easy answer
There are several ways to measure preparedness, but each method has its drawbacks, said Jill Cannon, senior policy researcher at global policy think tank Rand.
Parents can answer questions about their child — such as on the National Child Health Survey — but they can be biased or misinterpret the questions, especially if English is not their first language. Instead, teachers can assess children, but the interpretation of a child’s behavior can often depend on the teacher doing the assessment.
Time to measure readiness can also be a factor.
A child’s age when they enter kindergarten, usually 5 years old, can affect their suitability, as children a few months old are often in the same class as five-year-olds.
“Six months now doesn’t mean anything to me, but at that time … I had a lot of learning to do. I grew up a lot,” Cannon said. “These kids, they grow so much in the kindergarten year.”
How do you prepare your child?
If your child is scheduled for kindergarten readiness testing, don’t worry. Most experts agree that readiness assessments are important in determining what supports children will need.
When it comes to emotional readiness, most kids catch up within the first month or two if they aren’t ready, says part-time kindergarten teacher Amy DiStefano, who has taught kindergarten for 22 years. Based on guidance from the National Education Goals Panel, preschoolers should be able to take turns and cooperate. They should also be able to understand the feelings of others and express their own feelings.
DiStefano, who teaches at Taper Avenue Elementary in San Pedro, said she assesses kindergarten readiness based on students’ ability to follow directions and their ability to communicate with each other and adults, especially when it comes to problem solving, sharing and asking for help.
Readiness can be seen in different ways, says UC Berkeley education professor emeritus Bruce Fuller. Preschool reading skills and math concepts can be important to school districts and policymakers as children prepare to begin state testing in later years. Teachers often observe a child’s behavior in the classroom: Do they raise their hand, stand in line? For parents, the ability to make friends and use cooperative skills is important.
The National Education Goals Panel’s standards indicate that children should have an awareness of sounds and letters, understand how a story works and be able to represent ideas graphically. They should be curious and persistent in tasks, have gross and fine motor skills and number sense.
“Early learning activities at home, the complexity of the language used by families, the quality of pre-K — all of these make a big difference in the pace of a child’s development,” Fuller said. “It doesn’t mean that some kids won’t participate, but on average, kids who aren’t ready for school—kids who aren’t growing at a normal rate—may be far behind in elementary school.”
How is kindergarten readiness measured in California?
California does not have a statewide test to assess kindergarten readiness.
To truly assess the readiness of a kindergarten, the method must be comprehensive – and therefore, expensive. California juvenile attorneys tend to err on the side of limiting testing, Fuller said.
“Child advocates rightly point to children’s emotional well-being, well-being and social skills as the foundation,” Fuller said. “Assessing social and emotional development is an exact science. We could be testing all 4-year-olds, but we might not be measuring the right thing.”
However, teachers are able to monitor their children and adapt activities to promote development in appropriate ways, said Gennie Gorback, president-elect of the California Kindergarten Assn.
“Teachers, especially kindergarten teachers, are able to meet children where they are, assess them and know what their needs are and prepare activities and lessons, around where they need to grow,” said Gorback.
How to improve readiness in kindergarten
Research suggests that attending a high-quality preschool program is one of the best ways to improve kindergarten readiness.
However, preschool curricula vary greatly across the US, with some prioritizing specific areas of development, such as reading. And the quality of preschool can vary greatly.
In California, Gov. Gavin Newsom recently oversaw the expansion of pre-kindergarten, which sought to provide all 4-year-olds with free early childhood education in public schools. It gave children the “gift of time,” to develop their social and emotional skills as they prepare for kindergarten, Gorback said.
But some of the expectations of kindergarten are growing to a lower grade, including the development of social emotions, she said.
Some measures of preschool quality apply across the board. Many early childhood education experts rely on the National Institute for Early Education Research’s 10 quality benchmarks to conduct a comprehensive assessment of all states that offer public preschool programs. Parents can use the standards as a guide to choosing the preschool that is most likely to help prepare their child for the next step.
Sequeira reports on The Times’ early childhood education program, which focuses on the learning and development of California children from birth to age 5. For more information about this program and its charitable sponsors, visit latimes.com/earlyed. Seminara writes for the Associated Press. Todd Feathers of the Associated Press contributed to this report.
