Virginia’s Kindergarten Readiness Project

Back in January, we told you about a statewide kindergarten assessment pilot that Governor McDonnell included as part of his K-12 agenda. A lot of movement has happened since then, and we thought it was time for an update. Read on to learn all about it:

As part of Governor McDonnell’s K-12 reform agenda, E3 is working with the Department of Education, the University of Virginia CASTL, and the Virginia Early Childhood Foundation to conduct the Virginia Kindergarten Readiness Project, a statewide pilot.

Currently in Virginia, the main kindergarten assessment we have is the Phonological Awareness Literacy Screening (PALS), which only measures a child’s readiness to read.

While PALS does an excellent job assessing a child’s literacy skills, it doesn’t measure other important kindergarten readiness skills such as social and personal development; mathematical thinking; scientific thinking; social studies; the arts; or physical development and health.

In 2008 the National Research Council reported that there are many reasons for assessing young children, including the need to differentiate instruction on an individual child basis; screen for developmental delays; ensure program accountability; monitor and aggregate the readiness of kindergarten children statewide to inform state-level decisions about policy and funding.

A comprehensive kindergarten assessment covers all essential domains of school readiness and provides critical information about children’s learning and development upon kindergarten entry.

So what’s Virginia doing? E3 and The Virginia Early Childhood Foundation (VECF) are working to complement and expand the kindergarten readiness assessment efforts in the Commonwealth using a two-phased approach:

Phase I—Fall, 2013

This fall, VECF has embarked on a feasibility pilot to test the utility of Teaching Strategies GOLD (TS GOLD). Click here to learn more about VECF’s feasibility study.

Simultaneously, in partnership with the University of Virginia, E3 launched a validity study to:

Validate TS GOLD as an accurate assessment of child readiness in Virginia.
Assess approximately 1400 children from 50-60 classrooms using TS GOLD.
Assess 500 of the same children using a battery of previously validated assessments.
Make recommendations on how TS GOLD can be used most effectively to assess school readiness in Virginia and dovetail with existing measures.

Phase II—Fall, 2014

Using the recommendations from Phase I, a second wave of school districts will participate in the Virginia Kindergarten Readiness Project in the fall of 2014. The second phase will incorporate a broader sample of students from different localities across Virginia to:

Produce a snapshot of Virginia’s entering kindergartners and help to clearly define the readiness gap in our state.
Provide an overall estimate of children who enter kindergarten ready based on Virginia kindergarten readiness benchmarks.
Indicate the extent to which estimates of kindergarten readiness may be different for children from certain subgroups (geographic regions, particular socio-demographic backgrounds, etc.)
Inform the implementation of a full-scale comprehensive readiness assessment in the Commonwealth.
Equip E3 with information to inform public policy and funding decisions in early childhood education.

Frequently Asked Question about the Virginia Kindergarten Readiness Project:

How can information from the assessments be used to benefit individual students?

Families can use the information provided by the assessment to support children at home.
Teachers can use this information to modify instruction, adapt curricula, and focus on professional development needs.

How will the aggregate results of the assessment be used?

Results of the assessment will be used to inform efforts to close the school readiness gap during kindergarten and support success in elementary school.

Why is E3 involved in a Kindergarten Assessment?

E3 is involved during the pilot phase to define the problem and clearly identify the readiness gap to our legislature. A high quality kindergarten assessment should provide information to support effective programmatic decisions and inform policy and funding decisions in the years before kindergarten.

Want to learn more? Click the links below:

We applaud Governor McDonnell and the Virginia legislature for including Virginia’s Kindergarten Readiness Project as part of their K-12 Reform Agenda. E3 is fortunate to have public-private funding for both phases of the pilot that we will conduct in partnership with the University of Virginia. The results of the pilot will be presented by E3: Elevate Early Education to the Virginia General Assembly during the 2014 & 2015 sessions to inform funding and policy decisions.

Is your school system interested in participating in the statewide pilot? Email Elizabeth Williams at ewilliams@e3va.org for more information.