{"id":2436,"date":"2016-04-26T13:12:05","date_gmt":"2016-04-26T17:12:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/msde\/?p=2436"},"modified":"2016-04-26T13:12:05","modified_gmt":"2016-04-26T17:12:05","slug":"new-data-finds-nearly-half-of-students-ready-for-kindergarten","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/msde\/new-data-finds-nearly-half-of-students-ready-for-kindergarten\/","title":{"rendered":"New Data Finds Nearly Half Of Students Ready For Kindergarten"},"content":{"rendered":"

More Rigorous Standards Also Reveal Achievement Gaps<\/em><\/h3>\n

For Immediate Release\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Contact: Bill Reinhard, 410-767-0486<\/p>\n

Baltimore, MD<\/p>\n

Maryland\u2019s new Kindergarten Readiness Assessment (KRA) finds that nearly half of Maryland\u2019s incoming students in the fall of 2015 were fully ready for learning. The data, released today in a report presented to the Maryland State Board of Education, confirm last year\u2019s results, when the entering kindergarteners were assessed using the new assessment for the first time.<\/p>\n

The report, Readiness Matters!<\/em> found that 45 percent of incoming students were fully prepared to begin kindergarten.\u00a0 Another 37 percent were \u201capproaching\u201d readiness, while 18 percent were \u201cemerging.\u201d\u00a0 The results also uncovered gaps in readiness between certain student groups. The report also includes insights into readiness and children\u2019s experience with various forms of pre-K experience. \u00a0The results nearly mirror the outcomes from last year when 47 percent were fully ready.<\/p>\n

The results also spotlight gaps in readiness.\u00a0 More than half of White and Asian-American children are entering kindergarten ready to learn — 56 and 52 percent, respectively.\u00a0 But only 41 percent of African-American students are fully prepared for kindergarten and just 27 percent of Hispanic students are kindergarten-ready.\u00a0 The data revealed that students from low-income households, those for whom English is a second language, and students with disabilities have special challenges.<\/p>\n

The KRA measures the skills and behaviors that children should have learned prior to entering kindergarten. It combines age-appropriate, standardized performance tasks that measure students\u2019 specific skills, along with focused observations of children\u2019s work and social interactions, to best understand what each entering kindergartner knows and is able to do in four key areas: social foundations; physical well-being and motor development; language and literacy; and mathematics.<\/p>\n

This assessment replaced the Maryland Model for School Readiness (MMSR) assessment, in use from 2001 to 2013. The new assessment is needed to put young students on a path toward meeting Maryland\u2019s more rigorous Pre-K through 12th grade College and Career Ready Standards. The KRA sets a new baseline for tracking student progress in future years, aligned to the higher standards; the results are not directly comparable to the MMSR, which found in 2013 that 83 percent of kindergartners entering school in 2013 were \u201cfully ready\u201d for the curriculum.<\/p>\n

The KRA reveals gaps in kindergarten readiness, including gaps among low-, middle- and upper-income households.\u00a0 Just 33 percent of children who are eligible for free or reduced meals–the federal
\nproxy for low-income–enter kindergarten fully prepared, while 55 percent of children from middle- and upper income families are ready for kindergarten.<\/p>\n

The data also provide information on kindergarten readiness based on pre-K experience, including:<\/p>\n