What Is School Readiness?
"School readiness involves more than just children. School readiness, in the broadest sense, is about children, families, early environments,
schools, and communities. Children are not innately 'ready' or 'not ready' for school. Their skills and development are strongly influenced
by their families and through their interactions with other people and environments before coming to school."
(Maxwell & Clifford 2004, 42)
Kindergarten Teachers' Expectations of Children at the Start of Kindergarten
In a survey conducted by researchers from the Indiana University , kindergarten teachers stated that they expect children to:
Follow daily routines Follow directions Accept guidance and limits from familiar adults
Ask for help Listen to gather information Take care of personal needs (e.g., toileting, blowing nose)
Follow classroom rules Complete a simple task
The list above includes NO expectations that children will have specific knowledge or discrete skills. They will learn these in kindergarten. Oregon's readiness assessment measures only a few of these abilities and measures many things that kindergarten teachers are not concerned about. They will teach these in kindergarten..
The Importance of Defining School Readiness
The Center on Enhancing Early Learning Outcomes (CEELO) states that it is critically important to define and operationalize the term “school readiness” to ensure the KA accurately assesses key domains of development. Oregon has no statewide definition of school readiness.
The Center on Enhancing Early Learning Outcomes (CEELO) Fast Facts
Dana Hepper from the Children’s Institute writes: “Some of the challenging issues to figure out include: Defining kindergarten readiness. What
behaviors and information do children need when entering kindergarten to set them on a path to success in third grade and beyond? How many
letters and letter sounds should children know when they reach kindergarten? What social-emotional skills should already be in place? What early
math skills do children need?” Dana Hepper’s blog:
But, defining readiness has to be the first task in the development of a readiness assessment system because everything - the selected tests, the
process, and the meaning and use of the results - needs to flow from the definition. Currently the tests and the way the results are reported are
defining readiness, which is completely backwards. If readiness would be defined holistically, reflect recommendations from the CCSSO, NAEYC and
other professional organizations, and have "buy-in" from the parents, preschool teachers and other stakeholders, then the KA would have to use very
different assessments to measure "academic" readiness and would have to include additional measures.
Schools Need to be Ready for ALL Children
Isn't it more important to know if schools and their kindergarten teachers have the skills and resources to meet the learning and developmental needs
of all their entering students, than it is to know the ability levels of those students? After all, there will always be a broad range of abilities among
any group of five year olds. While one kindergarten teacher will view a child as not ready, another teacher will view the same child as being
sufficiently ready. This is not uncommon. The difference comes from factors outside of the child such as a teacher's experience, training, group
management skills, ability to build on strengths, and stress level. And from school characteristics such as class size, the principle's beliefs and values,
and the demands on and expectations of teachers, High Scope developed a tool to assess the readiness of a school and to help make improvement
plans. The Ready School Assessment (RSA) includes eight dimensions of readiness: Engaging Environments; Effective Curricula; Family, School, and
Community Partnership; Respecting Diversity; and Assessing Progress. An assessment of each school's readiness should be part of every large-scale
kindergarten readiness assessment system!
"School readiness involves more than just children. School readiness, in the broadest sense, is about children, families, early environments,
schools, and communities. Children are not innately 'ready' or 'not ready' for school. Their skills and development are strongly influenced
by their families and through their interactions with other people and environments before coming to school."
(Maxwell & Clifford 2004, 42)
Kindergarten Teachers' Expectations of Children at the Start of Kindergarten
In a survey conducted by researchers from the Indiana University , kindergarten teachers stated that they expect children to:
Follow daily routines Follow directions Accept guidance and limits from familiar adults
Ask for help Listen to gather information Take care of personal needs (e.g., toileting, blowing nose)
Follow classroom rules Complete a simple task
The list above includes NO expectations that children will have specific knowledge or discrete skills. They will learn these in kindergarten. Oregon's readiness assessment measures only a few of these abilities and measures many things that kindergarten teachers are not concerned about. They will teach these in kindergarten..
The Importance of Defining School Readiness
The Center on Enhancing Early Learning Outcomes (CEELO) states that it is critically important to define and operationalize the term “school readiness” to ensure the KA accurately assesses key domains of development. Oregon has no statewide definition of school readiness.
The Center on Enhancing Early Learning Outcomes (CEELO) Fast Facts
Dana Hepper from the Children’s Institute writes: “Some of the challenging issues to figure out include: Defining kindergarten readiness. What
behaviors and information do children need when entering kindergarten to set them on a path to success in third grade and beyond? How many
letters and letter sounds should children know when they reach kindergarten? What social-emotional skills should already be in place? What early
math skills do children need?” Dana Hepper’s blog:
But, defining readiness has to be the first task in the development of a readiness assessment system because everything - the selected tests, the
process, and the meaning and use of the results - needs to flow from the definition. Currently the tests and the way the results are reported are
defining readiness, which is completely backwards. If readiness would be defined holistically, reflect recommendations from the CCSSO, NAEYC and
other professional organizations, and have "buy-in" from the parents, preschool teachers and other stakeholders, then the KA would have to use very
different assessments to measure "academic" readiness and would have to include additional measures.
Schools Need to be Ready for ALL Children
Isn't it more important to know if schools and their kindergarten teachers have the skills and resources to meet the learning and developmental needs
of all their entering students, than it is to know the ability levels of those students? After all, there will always be a broad range of abilities among
any group of five year olds. While one kindergarten teacher will view a child as not ready, another teacher will view the same child as being
sufficiently ready. This is not uncommon. The difference comes from factors outside of the child such as a teacher's experience, training, group
management skills, ability to build on strengths, and stress level. And from school characteristics such as class size, the principle's beliefs and values,
and the demands on and expectations of teachers, High Scope developed a tool to assess the readiness of a school and to help make improvement
plans. The Ready School Assessment (RSA) includes eight dimensions of readiness: Engaging Environments; Effective Curricula; Family, School, and
Community Partnership; Respecting Diversity; and Assessing Progress. An assessment of each school's readiness should be part of every large-scale
kindergarten readiness assessment system!