Why it matters:

Kindergarten marks the start of a child's formal education. A child's first school experiences can influence the way he or she relates to others for the rest of life. For example, success or failure at this stage can affect a child's well-being, self-esteem and motivation. As a result, it's important to make sure that when a child begins school he or she is developmentally ready to learn and participate in classroom activities.

The Kindergarten Readiness Survey (KRS) is an assessment by teachers about the "readiness" of their kindergarten students within the first six to 10 weeks of school. Vermont’s definition of children’s readiness is multidimensional; it includes five readiness domains, 1. social and emotional development, 2. communication, 3. physical health and wellness, 4. cognitive development, and 5. approaches to learning (e.g., enthusiasm for learning, persistence, curiosity).

In 2015-16, the Kindergarten Readiness Survey was replaced by the Ready for Kindergarten! Survey (R4K!S), which meant a new survey instrument, changes in scoring methods, and criteria were used for identification of students as “ready.” The new survey also includes new and revised questions, including six in the Physical Development and Health domain. These changes in readiness criteria resulted in a substantially greater percentage of students identified as ready in FY2016 than in previous years. The difference in the number and percent of students identified as ready is solely attributable to the new method used to determine and define readiness, not to changes in the population of kindergarten students. Therefore, any comparisons made between this years’ R4K!S data and all previous years of KRS Survey data are not recommended or valid.

Current trend:

For all Vermont students, for the 2015-2016 school year, 81.79% of kindergarten students were ready in all five domains.

For the 2015-2016 school year, 82.93% of Lamoille North Supervisory Union, 88.35% of Lamoille South Supervisory Union, and 78.21% of Orleans Southwest Supervisory Union kindergarten students were ready in all five domains.

Factors contributing to a child’s readiness for kindergarten include:

• Participation in a high quality early childhood education and development program
• Interactive reading experiences with parents or caregivers
• Age appropriate experiences that encourage socialization
• Physical, oral and emotional health

Lamoille Family Center

Lamoille North and South, and Orleans Southwest Supervisory Unions

High quality early education and development program providers

Vermont Birth to Five

Starting Points

Building Bright Futures

Parents play a critical role in helping their children succeed in school. Children need to enter kindergarten with the social and emotional skills necessary to function in a classroom setting. Along with a nurturing, safe home environment, attending high quality child care and preschool helps foster those skills. Ensuring that all children have access to preschool as three and four year olds (universal pre-kindergarten) enables all children to start their public education experience ready to learn.

Improve access to high quality child care preschool programs

Work with regulated providers to increase participation in Stars

Enhance public education efforts around the importance of the early years in a child’s development