It Doesn't Meet Guidelines for Assessing Readiness
The KA does not meet guidelines for the effective assessment of readiness as put forth by such groups as the National Governor’s Association, the Council of Chief State School Officers, the National Educational Association, and even the U.S. Department of Education. The USDOE states that tools used to measure readiness must, “ …cover all essential domains of school readiness – language and literacy, cognition and general knowledge, approaches to learning, physical well-being and motor development, and social-emotional development."
It Doesn't Align Well with Oregon's Early Learning Framework
The Center for Enhancing Early Learning Outcome states, “The goals, guiding principles and purposes for a KEA should be linked to the State’s goals for children and in concert with a comprehensive approach to early childhood assessment.” But the KA is NOT aligned with Oregon’s very good and developmentally appropriate Child Development Early Learning Framework (ODE adopted this framework that was developed for Head Start). The Framework addresses 11 areas development:
Physical Development & Health Social & Emotional Development
Approaches to Learning Language Development
Literacy Knowledge & Skills Mathematics knowledge & Skills
Science Knowledge & Skills Creative Arts Expression
Logic & Reasoning Social Studies Knowledge & Skills
English Language Development
The KA addresses three areas of development: Approaches to Learning, Literacy, and Math. How are these three areas conceptualized in the Framework as compared to the KA?.
Framework Kindergarten Assessment
Approaches Curiosity, Initiative., Persistence, Self-Regulation, Social Interaction
to Learning Attentiveness, Cooperation
Literacy Book Appreciation and Knowledge, Letter Name Knowledge, Letter Sound Knowledge
Phonological Awareness, Alphabet
Knowledge, Print Concepts and
Conventions, Early Writing
Math Number Concepts and Quantities, Number and Operations (includes
Number Relationships and Operations, counting, addition, subtraction,
Geometry and Spatial Sense, Patterns, recognizing number patterns)
Measurement and Comparison
The Process for Developing the KA was Faulty
The process of developing a readiness assessment is very important, as it will ultimately determine the quality of the assessment. Many of the recommendations from the Build Initiative in their publication, Top Ten Recommendations for State Leaders Implementing Kindergarten Entry Assessments, were not met. This includes the number one recommendation: "Involve the right people, listen to diverse voices." The group that developed Oregon's KA did not include early child education or child development specialists and they did not listen to the concerns of ELL specialists.
In 2001, Stephanie Feeney and her colleagues at the University of Hawaii developed a set of recommendations for implementing an inclusive, cultural-responsive, and child-centered process for designing an effective kindergarten assessment system. Called Ready for Success in Kindergarten, the recommendations were informed by multiple sources including national and local surveys of the beliefs of preschool and kindergarten parents, teachers, administrators.
The result of assessing readiness ineffectively is that we will NOT know how well we are preparing children for school.
The KA does not meet guidelines for the effective assessment of readiness as put forth by such groups as the National Governor’s Association, the Council of Chief State School Officers, the National Educational Association, and even the U.S. Department of Education. The USDOE states that tools used to measure readiness must, “ …cover all essential domains of school readiness – language and literacy, cognition and general knowledge, approaches to learning, physical well-being and motor development, and social-emotional development."
It Doesn't Align Well with Oregon's Early Learning Framework
The Center for Enhancing Early Learning Outcome states, “The goals, guiding principles and purposes for a KEA should be linked to the State’s goals for children and in concert with a comprehensive approach to early childhood assessment.” But the KA is NOT aligned with Oregon’s very good and developmentally appropriate Child Development Early Learning Framework (ODE adopted this framework that was developed for Head Start). The Framework addresses 11 areas development:
Physical Development & Health Social & Emotional Development
Approaches to Learning Language Development
Literacy Knowledge & Skills Mathematics knowledge & Skills
Science Knowledge & Skills Creative Arts Expression
Logic & Reasoning Social Studies Knowledge & Skills
English Language Development
The KA addresses three areas of development: Approaches to Learning, Literacy, and Math. How are these three areas conceptualized in the Framework as compared to the KA?.
Framework Kindergarten Assessment
Approaches Curiosity, Initiative., Persistence, Self-Regulation, Social Interaction
to Learning Attentiveness, Cooperation
Literacy Book Appreciation and Knowledge, Letter Name Knowledge, Letter Sound Knowledge
Phonological Awareness, Alphabet
Knowledge, Print Concepts and
Conventions, Early Writing
Math Number Concepts and Quantities, Number and Operations (includes
Number Relationships and Operations, counting, addition, subtraction,
Geometry and Spatial Sense, Patterns, recognizing number patterns)
Measurement and Comparison
The Process for Developing the KA was Faulty
The process of developing a readiness assessment is very important, as it will ultimately determine the quality of the assessment. Many of the recommendations from the Build Initiative in their publication, Top Ten Recommendations for State Leaders Implementing Kindergarten Entry Assessments, were not met. This includes the number one recommendation: "Involve the right people, listen to diverse voices." The group that developed Oregon's KA did not include early child education or child development specialists and they did not listen to the concerns of ELL specialists.
In 2001, Stephanie Feeney and her colleagues at the University of Hawaii developed a set of recommendations for implementing an inclusive, cultural-responsive, and child-centered process for designing an effective kindergarten assessment system. Called Ready for Success in Kindergarten, the recommendations were informed by multiple sources including national and local surveys of the beliefs of preschool and kindergarten parents, teachers, administrators.
The result of assessing readiness ineffectively is that we will NOT know how well we are preparing children for school.