NATIONAL TRENDS IN EARLY ASSESSMENT Kindergarten Entrance Assessment (KEA) within a Comprehensive System of Screening & Assessment

Kindergarten Entrance Assessment (KEA) “… kindergarten entry is a unique moment in time for gauging children's development and using assessment data to look both backward and forward.” Early Learning Challenge Collaborative

“A kindergarten entry assessment process is an organized way to learn what children know and are able to do, including their disposition toward learning, when they enter kindergarten …” Build Initiative ssment/KEA.aspx Kindergarten Entrance Assessment (KEA)

What is a KEA? Data collected after children begin kindergarten, within the first 2 months of school Assesses development in the Five Essential Domains of School Readiness Aligned with state’s early learning standards Valid and reliable for its intended purposes US Dept. of Education, 2015

What are the 5 Essential Domains of School Readiness? 1. Physical well-being and motor development 2. Social and emotional development 3. Language development (includes early literacy) 4. Approaches to learning (problem solving, persistence, imagination, etc.) 5. Cognition & general knowledge (includes mathematics and scientific thinking) National Education Goals Panel, 1995 US DOE, RTTT-ELC, 2015

KEA PURPOSE To inform instruction To inform parents and involve them in their children’s education NOT intended to prevent children’s entry into kindergarten US Dept. of Education, 2015 To inform efforts to close the school readiness gap

KEA Trends Approaches vary state to state KEA as an extension of birth to 5 early childhood assessment practices, as transitional into kindergarten, OR starting point for a K-3 rd grade assessment system OR a checkpoint in a Birth-3 rd grade system Not stand alone “test” but part of a comprehensive system Can be 4K or 5K as children transition into school system Looking forward: Formative data to plan for instruction Looking backward: Data to inform improvement of previous services promoting “school readiness”

Not assessing all children in the state, but only a representative sample Provide choice – a list of approved tools, or require a state-selected tool Make state or local data reporting optional or mandatory Allow schools a choice; a local decision to participate Adopt a commercially available or state-developed tool, adapt a commercial tool or state-developed tool, or create a new tool KEA Trends

2013 data: 34 states described plans for a KEA in their Race to the Top- Early Learning Challenge (RTTT-ELC) and Enhanced Assessment Grant applications 2014 data: 33 states reported being in some stage of KEA implementation exploration stage: engaging stakeholders; conducting research installation phase: small scale; pilot sites implementation stage: providing professional development; collecting child data; reporting to stakeholders CEELO, 2014

K-3 Formative Assessment Consortium North Carolina [lead], Arizona, Delaware, District of Columbia, Iowa, Maine, North Dakota, Oregon, Rhode Island, & South Carolina Working to design a formative assessment system that begins with a KEA and continues through 3 rd grade Selected Examples from Other States

California’s Desired Results System Administered by the CA Department of Education (CDE); applies to child care and development services for children, birth – 13 years, and their families Compatible with CDE's accountability system for elementary and secondary education Includes a KEA, Desired Results Developmental Profile – School Readiness (DRDP-SR) 5preschool.pdf

Washington State Early Learning and Development Guidelines, birth through grade 3 (K- 3 jointly with CCSS to include social-emotional domain) Washington’s Kindergarten Inventory of Developing Skills (WaKIDS) considered a process for school readiness, transition into 5K; TS Gold required KEA Includes families, 5K teachers, child care, Head Start, & other pre-K service providers Shared child data across systems to support smooth transitions to 5K and continuous teaching and learning Washington

New Jersey PreK-grade 3 model targeting 31 high poverty districts Requires collaboration plan with preschools, kindergartens, and elementary schools to share individual child data via portfolios TS Gold used as ‘KEA checkpoint ’

Georgia’s ‘Bright from the Start’ Birth to age 5 focus (includes universal Pre-K) Early learning standards aligned with K-3 state standards Online Work Sampling System to share child data as they transition into 5K Georgia Kindergarten Inventory of Developing Skills (GKIDS) - ongoing, year-long assessment to determine student skills entering and exiting 5K (KEA)

What about Wisconsin BLUEPRINT FOR A COMPREHENSIVE AND ALIGNED SYSTEM FOR SCREENING AND ASSESSMENT OF YOUNG CHILDREN Prepared for Wisconsin Governor’s Early Childhood Advisory Council By the Wisconsin Early Childhood Collaborating Partners: Healthy Children Committee (Serving as the ECAC Screening and Assessment Project Team) February 2012 Wisconsin Governor’s Early Childhood Advisory Council (ECAC) Mission: Every child will be healthy, nurtured, safe and successful Conduct periodic needs assessments Identify cooperative/collaborative opportunities and barriers Develop recommendations to increase child/family participation Identify professional development needs

BLUEPRINT Key Points Birth – 5 years focus; across systems Prevention, early intervention, and treatment are important for improving child outcomes and … healthy families Developmentally appropriate and valid screening and assessment data are the cornerstone of informed decision making Collecting both universal and targeted screening and assessment data is recommended

Child-level Program-level Systems/Institutions A Comprehensive Early Childhood Screening & Assessment System

WHAT to assess/WHO is engaged: Child Level – all developmental domains – motor, social- emotional, language, approaches to learning, and cognition; plus content areas – literacy and math Program Level –comprehensive data on each child over time; teacher effectiveness, environmental and other program quality measures Systems Level - all who “touch the lives of young children and their families” - health care, education, Head Start, mental health, child care, home visiting and IDEA programs A Comprehensive Early Childhood Screening & Assessment System

Purpose/uses of data at each level: Child level: monitoring development & learning; determining eligibility; planning for instruction and “next steps” for individual children and groups of children; communicating with families Program level:; accountability; assessing services/program quality and effectiveness; professional development Systems –Institutions level: policy development; resources allocation; professional development A Comprehensive Early Childhood Screening & Assessment System

Where we are … “To explore KEA” – written into Wisconsin’s Race To The Top –Early Learning Challenge Grant A technical paper was developed by the Wisconsin Early Childhood Collaborating Partners: Healthy Children/Screening and Assessment Project Team and submitted to DPI Describes the continuum of options available

Option 1: Make no changes in current screening and assessment practices and policies, allowing each early childhood sector to independently support best practice within their own programs/services. Option 2: Require administration of a specified KEA tool as children enter public 4K and/or 5K and make reporting mandatory. The tool can be designed specifically for Wisconsin or an existing tool can be selected and modified. Option 3: Provide a list of approved tools to select from as the required KEA, administered as children enter 4K and/or 5K with mandatory reporting. Option 4: Optional use of a specified KEA tool or select from a list of tools for use at 4K or 5K entry with optional reporting. Option 5: Develop and implement a comprehensive birth to 5K screening and assessment system that includes a 4KEA and 5KEA as checkpoints for data reporting in an on-going process of data-driven decision making and services delivery. Option 6: Expand the options in 2, 3, 4 or 5 for a comprehensive birth through 3 rd grade screening and assessment system that includes a 4KEA and 5KEA as checkpoints for data reporting in an on-going process of data- driven decision making and services delivery. This could require specified tools or allow for selection of tools from a menu. Wisconsin Early Childhood Collaborating Partners: Healthy Children/Screening and Assessment Project Team. (2015). Exploring Options for Kindergarten Entrance Assessment (KEA) for the State of Wisconsin.

For more information … Presentation developed by Gaye Tylka of CESA #4, through funding from the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction and Wisconsin's Race to the Top: Early Learning Challenge Grant. Contacts for comment or more information: or Jill Haglund, Early Childhood Consultant, WI DPI Recommended by the US DOE: Snow, C.E., & S.B. Van Hemel. (2008). Early childhood assessment: Why, what, and how? National Research Council of the National Academies Report. Washington, DC: The National Academy Press. (free pdf download available)

References Early Learning Challenge Collaborative. (2013). Retrieved from Education Commission of the States. (2014). 50-State Comparison – KEAs. Retrieved at National Education Goals Panel.(1995). Reconsidering children's early development and learning: Toward common views and vocabulary. Washington, DC: National Education Goals Panel. Schilder, D. & Carolan, M. (2014). State of the States policy snapshot: State early childhood assessment policies. New Brunswick, NJ: Center on Enhancing Early Learning Outcomes (CEELO). Retrieved from: U.S. Department of Education. (2015). Statewide KEA Data Collection and Reporting in RTT- ELC States. Race to the Top-Early Learning Challenge Technical Assistance. Retrieved from Wat, A. et.al. (2011). Kindergarten Entry Assessment Race to the Top Early Learning Challenge Fund Information. Build Initiative. Retrieved from