New Online Platform Helps Early Childhood Community Access School Readiness Data

BALTIMORE  – The Maryland State Department of Education’s (MSDE) Division of Early Childhood has launched a new tool, called the Readiness Matters Data Explorer, to help stakeholders access and use the Kindergarten Readiness Assessment (KRA) Report data.

The Data Explorer is an initiative of the Ready at Five program, providing users with a detailed breakdown of statewide and individual county 2018-2019 KRA data.

“We’re really excited by the launch of the Data Explorer,” said Dr. Karen Salmon, State Superintendent of Schools. “Although KRA data exists online already, accessing it in this format allows early childhood educators and stakeholders an innovative way to view and use the data.  We hope this user-friendly format will drive conversations and strategies in the local early childhood communities to address gaps in achievement.”

Developed and managed by Ready At Five with funding from MSDE, the new portal allows users to compare data and easily filter information by county, learning domain, race/ethnicity, prior care experience, and other subgroup demographics.  The tools within the platform can be used to compare data across subgroups and jurisdictions, and there are plans to expand the functionality in the future.

The KRA is an age-appropriate and reliable assessment tool that deploys standardized performance tasks and child observations to better understand four areas for each student entering kindergarten: social foundations; physical well-being and motor development; language and literacy; and mathematics.

This assessment is part of Ready for Kindergarten (R4K), Maryland’s comprehensive early childhood assessment system. The KRA is intended as a starting point for tracking student progress in future years, aligned to Maryland’s rigorous prekindergarten through 12th grade college and career-ready standards.

Using these assessments, last year 47 percent of children in Maryland demonstrated that they were school ready, an increase of two percent over the previous year.

For more information about the Readiness Matters Data Explorer or Ready at Five, please visit https://dataexplorer.readyatfive.org,