Every 3 years since 2004, First 5 Monterey County has conducted a study of kindergarten readiness throughout the county, known as the Kindergarten Readiness Assessment (KRA). Bright Beginnings has used the data from the KRA as an indicator of readiness for incoming students to the K-12 system. Local communities have used the data to help create plans to improve early childhood development. Over the years, there has been increased interest to have annual kindergarten readiness information for each newly enrolled child before the school year begins to aid teachers in planning for the year and to assess countywide readiness on a more frequent basis.
As a result, collaborative planning around an annual assessment is being implemented. There will be two phases. The first phase is information gathering, and the second phase is creating and implementing a pilot assessment system in schools. The primary end users of the KRA system are kindergarten teachers with the benefit being that child- and classroom-level readiness data allow them to improve the quality of instruction, and school district administrators with the benefit being that they can more appropriately assign students to kindergarten classrooms and plan student support services. Secondary end users include ECE providers, ECE teachers, policymakers, and non-profit organizations serving young children. These users will only need and receive population data (aggregated from the child level), and will benefit from using the data to identify needs and areas where they can target/improve to better support children before and during kindergarten.
For the first phase, a Research and Scoping Team has formed, and includes the following members:
- Tamara Hamai, First 5 Monterey County
- Nina Alcaraz, First 5 Monterey County (formerly of Bright Beginnings)
- Michael Applegate, Bright Futures,
- Krista Hanni, Monterey County Health Department
- Deneen Guss, Monterey County Office of Education
- Dora Salazar, Monterey County Office of Education
This Research and Scoping Team is focusing on synthesizing and summarizing background information and research, facilitating countywide conversations, and creating recommendations to guide the development and implementation of a countywide system for assessing kindergarten readiness in Monterey County. The Research and Scoping Team will not make any decisions regarding the tool, components, or means of implementing the KRA System Pilot project, but will summarize information collected and make recommendations to a Pilot Implementation Team (yet to be formed).
- Analyze the data from previous cohort and identify any correlation between Kinder readiness and third grade success.
- Completion of this project will educate us to the effects of Kinder Readiness to elementary success.
- Conducted a survey of school districts to learn what assessments they are already conducting with kindergarten students and how assessment data are used.
- Established participation and data sharing agreements with districts wishing to be a part of the pilot project, and received 3rd grade student performance data to examine the link between kindergarten readiness and later academic and behavioral measures.
- Conduct the analyses linking the kindergarten readiness and 3rd grade data to identify any predictive relationships (already in progress).
- Conduct focus groups with parents, ECE providers, government and nonprofit professionals working in early childhood, TK teachers, K-12 teachers, and school district administration (in October 2017).
- Complete a review of research and professional publications on kindergarten readiness definitions, influential factors, and assessment (already in progress).
- Compile the information from the various sources, and develop recommendations for a countywide system for assessing kindergarten readiness for Monterey County.
- Share and get feedback on the draft recommendations at regional workshops, before revising and finalizing them.