Strategies for Defining, Measuring, and

Promoting Success FOR ALL CHILDREN

Report of the

Ready for School Goal Team

F u l l R e p o r t

Submitted to the

North Carolina School Improvement Panel

North Carolina State Board of Education

June 2000

Public Schools of North Carolina

State Board of Education

Department of Public Instruction

School Readiness in

North Carolina
SUMMARY OF RECOMMENDATIONS 1

READY FOR SCHOOL GOAL TEAM 2

Introduction 2

North Carolina’s Interest in School Readiness 2

Need for a Ready for School Goal Team 2

Charge 2

Membership 2

Overview of Work 2

SCHOOL READINESS FRAMEWORK 3

The National Context 3

The Foundation for the Goal Team’s Work 3

CHARGE 1:

DEFINING SCHOOL READINESS 4

Readiness Definitions across the 50 States 4

Definition Development Process 4

Defining School Readiness in North Carolina: The School Readiness Puzzle 5

North Carolina’s Brief Definition of School Readiness 6

Description of the Ideal Condition of Children as They Enter School 6

Recommendations 6

CHARGE 2:

ASSESSING SCHOOL READINESS IN NORTH CAROLINA 6

Section Overview 6

School Readiness Assessment Proposal 7

Assessing Children’s School Readiness 7

Battery for Assessing the Condition of Children as They Enter School 8

Data Collection Procedures 8

Special Considerations When Assessing Children 9

Assessing Schools’ Readiness for Children 9

Recommendations 9

Use of NC WISE to Manage Assessment Data 9

NC WISE Description 10

Data Management Issues to Consider 10

Recommendations 10
CHARGE 3:

SCHOOLS’ READINESS FOR ALL CHILDREN:

BEST PRACTICE GUIDELINES FOR NORTH CAROLINA 11

Are All Schools Ready for All Children? 11

Cornerstones of Ready Schools 11

Features of Ready Schools 11

Transitions to Ready Schools 11

Assessing Schools’ Readiness for Children 12

Ready Schools Summary 12

Recommendations 12

FUNDING STRATEGIES FOR IMPLEMENTING

RECOMMENDATIONS 13

CONCLUSIONS 13

APPENDICES 14

Ready for School Goal Team Membership List Appendix A 14

Ready for School Goal Team Preamble Appendix B 16

State Scan Survey Results Appendix C 17

List of North Carolina Reviewers Appendix D 19

National Expert Reviewers Appendix E 22

Description of Ideal Condition of Children Appendix F 23

FACES Assessment Battery Chart Appendix G 25

Schools Ready for All Children Report Appendix H 26

Ready Schools Self-Inventory Appendix I 34

Ready for School Framework Appendix J 37

North Carolina School Improvement Panel

Ready for School Goal Team

Final Report

Goal Team Co-Chairs:

Robin Britt United Child Development Services, Inc.

Susan Eaves Federal Programs, Richmond County Schools

Principal Report Authors:

Catherine Scott-Little SERVE, UNC-G

Kelly Maxwell Frank Porter Graham Child Development Center, UNC-CH

Goal Team Subcommittee Co-Chairs and Contributing Authors:

Donna Bryant NCEDL Frank Porter Graham Child Development Center, UNC-CH

Richard Clifford NCEDL, Frank Porter Graham Child Development Center, UNC-CH

Kim Hughes North Carolina Teacher of the Year

Bobbie Rowland Department of CSPC, UNC-C

Lucy Roberts Early Childhood, North Carolina Department of Public Instruction

Catherine Scott-Little SERVE, UNC-G

Charles Thompson North Carolina Education Research Council

Judy White Office of Education Reform, North Carolina Department of

Public Instruction
SUMMARY OF

RECOMMENDATIONS

The North Carolina School Improvement Panel Ready for

School Goal Team recommends the following actions by the

State Board of Education. Please note that these recommendations are directed toward the State Board of Education

because they convened and sponsored the Goal Team. We

recognize the critical role of many other organizations in

the adoption, endorsement, support, and implementation of

these recommendations.

1. Approve the Goal Team’s principles and

definition of school readiness.

School readiness is defined by

✐ The condition of children as they enter

school, based on the following five domains

of development:

● Health and physical development

● Social and emotional development

● Approaches toward learning

● Language development and communication

● Cognition and general knowledge

✐ The capacity of schools to serve all kindergartners effectively (e.g., personnel, policies, practices, and physical resources).

2. Collaborate in a school readiness system

to assess the conditions of children

entering school.

✐ Use a modified version of the Family and Child

Experiences Survey (FACES) battery as its assessment tool.

✐ Use a random sample of children that would provide information at the state and county levels.

✐ Be adopted and directed by the North Carolina

Partnership for Children.

✐ Rely on the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction and State Board of Education to

be collaborative partners in conducting this assessment in schools.

✐ Be piloted for three years, beginning in the

fall of 2000.

3. Adopt a school readiness system to assess

schools’ readiness for children.

✐ Schools’ readiness for all children would include

the following:

● Ready teachers

● Ready curriculum and instructional

strategies

● Ready school environments

● Ready administrators

● Ready families and communities

✐ Use a random sample of schools that would provide information at the state and county level.

✐ Be directed by the North Carolina Department

of Public Instruction.

✐ Be piloted for three years, beginning in the fall

of 2000.

4. Adopt the Ready Schools Best Practice Guidelines and develop a plan for implementing

these best practices.

Recommendations to the State Board of

Education include the following:

✐ Disseminate the Best Practice Guidelines to all

schools with kindergarten programs.

✐ Examine state and local policies regarding personnel and resources to promote optimal instructional conditions for children (e.g., B-K licensure, training, planning time, class size, physical

features of classrooms, curricula, and materials).

✐ Encourage schools to assess their own readiness

to teach all children who enter kindergarten.

✐ Encourage schools to work with families and

the early childhood community to develop transition plans for children entering kindergarten.

✐ Encourage state and local collaboration among

the early childhood community, families, community organizations, and schools to support

each piece of the school readiness puzzle.

✐ Develop and distribute to schools a list of recommended screening measures to identify

children who might have disabilities and need

further evaluation.

5. Modify the Kindergarten–Second Grade

(K2) Assessment to align with the North Carolina definition of school readiness, provide

training, and establish a timeline.

More specific recommendations include

the following:

✐ Expand the domains covered by the K-2 Assessment (e.g., adding items about children’s social

and emotional development).

✐ Expand the range of items included in the K-2

Assessment to ensure that the items represent competencies of children who are just entering school.

✐ Consider other modifications to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the tool.

6. Use the new public school student information system, NC WISE (North Carolina Window of Information for Student Education)

to collect and summarize critical data relevant to school readiness and collect data on

trajectories of change across cohorts or

groups of school children.

1

1
READY FOR SCHOOL

GOAL TEAM

Introduction

Are children ready for school?

As thousands of children enter school for the first time at

the end of the summer, parents, early childhood teachers,

and policymakers wonder: “Are they ready? Have we given

them the experiences and skills they need to be successful?”

At the same time, school teachers, principals, and school

boards ask, “What attributes do these children bring with

them to school, and how can we best meet their needs so

that they are successful throughout their school experience?”

These questions have no easy answers. Researchers, educators, policymakers, and parents have long searched for a

magic formula to determine when children are ready for

school: there is none. Each child is a unique individual. Development occurs unevenly across groups of children and

within individual children, experiences before children enter school vary greatly, and schools vary in their readiness to

receive children. All of these factors impact children’s readiness for school.

The North Carolina School Improvement Panel’s Ready

for School Goal Team was established to recommend what

“ready” children and “ready” schools should look like in

the Tar Heel State and how we know when children and

schools are ready.

North Carolina’s Interest in School Readiness

The interest is keen in making sure that all children in North

Carolina are “ready” for school when they enter kindergarten. Every parent and early childhood teacher wants this for

each child, as do the education leaders in this state.

Governor James B. Hunt, Jr., State Superintendent Michael

Ward, the State Board of Education, and the North Carolina

School Improvement Panel are focusing major attention on

this issue. “Ready for School” is a key priority in the

Governor’s First in America challenge and in the State Board

of Education’s strategic plan, ABCs Plus. Smart Start,

a model early childhood program for the nation, illustrates

the state’s commitment to ensuring that children are ready

for school.

Need for a Ready for School Goal Team

North Carolina established the Ready for School

Goal Team for the following reasons:

✐ There is no widely accepted definition of

school readiness.

✐ There is no national system for assessing

school readiness.

✐ There is an increased need to understand the

characteristics of children as they enter school.

✐ There is an increased recognition of the need

for schools to be ready for children.

Because readiness is a shared responsibility of families, early

childhood programs, schools, and other community organizations, the Ready for School Goal Team was created to bring

together the broad early childhood and public school communities to develop a common definition of school readiness and a system for assessing school readiness statewide.

This report outlines the process undertaken by the Ready for

School Goal Team to develop a readiness profile and Goal Team

recommendations for actions to ensure the following:

✐ All children in the state of North Carolina are

ready to succeed in school.

✐ All schools are ready to support children and

families in the learning process.

✐ North Carolina is “First in America” by 2010.

Charge

The Ready for School Goal Team was charged with

the following three important responsibilities:

1. Develop a definition of school readiness that will

help families, teachers, and communities support

children’s optimal development and provide rich experiences to enhance the likelihood that each child

will begin school ready and eager to succeed.

2. Identify assessment tools and processes that

can be used to assess how well North Carolina is

doing in preparing children for entering school. This

information will be used for system-accountability

purposes. As part of this, the Goal Team was charged

to use the public school information management

system (NC WISE) as a method of collecting school

readiness data.

3. Develop a definition of schools’ readiness for each

child. North Carolina should ensure that our public

kindergartens are prepared to teach every child who

enters school, regardless of where the child might

be in his/her own readiness for school.

Membership

The Goal Team has approximately 40 members representing many organizations that assist parents with the preschool

to kindergarten years. These groups include private and public

childcare and education programs, Head Start, Smart Start, and

the public school system as well as national experts in early

childhood development (see membership list in Appendix A).

Overview of Work

Convened in August, the Goal Team has met nine times in a

large committee, including a two-day retreat. Subcommittees

have met numerous times between Goal Team meetings, with

individuals committing hours of preparation aside from subcommittee meetings.

2
Subcommittees were formed to accomplish

the following:

✐ Develop a definition of school readiness.

✐ Conduct a national scan of assessment tools

and methods currently used.

✐ Develop recommendations for assessment measures

and procedures that can be used to document the

status of children when they enter kindergarten.

✐ Develop guidelines and recommendations to ensure

that North Carolina schools are ready to receive all

children.

✐ Work with NC WISE to ensure data needed to track

readiness performance will be captured in the new

information system.

SCHOOL READINESS

FRAMEWORK

The National Context

“All children in America should start school ready to learn.”

This is the first of the National Education Goals adopted in

1990 by President George Bush and the nation’s governors

to serve as a catalyst for improvements in America’s schools.

Over the years this goal has become known as the “readiness goal” and has received considerable attention. Governor Hunt has been instrumental in the work of the National

Education Goals panel, and North Carolina has been a model

for school readiness initiatives. Despite widespread agreement on the importance of school readiness, the nation has

struggled to define what being “ready” for school means.

The National Education Goals Panel brought together a

group of early childhood experts to provide a conceptual

framework for readiness and recommend how readiness

should be assessed. Based upon this group’s work, the Goals

Panel adopted the following five domains of children’s early

development and learning that must be considered when defining school readiness:

✐ Health and physical development

✐ Emotional well being and social competence

✐ Approaches to learning

✐ Communicative skills

✐ Cognition and general knowledge

While significant in their own right, these

readiness domains left the most critical question

unanswered: How do we know when children

are ready?

This critical question of how we know when children are

ready is at the epicenter of a clash between two sets of accountability: early childhood education/intervention and

school performance.

Early childhood programs have utilized significant federal,

state, and local resources to serve children before they enter

school. How do we know if these programs are working?

One way to answer this question is to assess children’s skills

when they enter school.

Schools could use a measure of children’s readiness to help

them understand the needs of individual children and

provide individualized instruction to improve children’s

performance.

While the importance of documenting children’s

readiness is clear, the means for doing so is not.

The early childhood years are unique. Development during

this stage is rapid and uneven. Standardized tests or assessments to measure development during the early years of a

child’s life are extremely limited, and many in the early childhood community argue that standardized measures are inappropriate for children of this age.

The National Goals Panel Resource and Technical Planning

Group of national experts in early childhood education and

assessment outlined general principles for early childhood

assessments in their 1998 Principles and Recommendations

for Early Childhood Assessments report but stopped short

of recommending precisely how states or programs should

assess young children. The report outlines four purposes

for which assessments could be used and provides a number of warnings/cautions for designing and using assessments during the early years.

Summary

The National Goals Panel has established five dimensions

of development that contribute to children’s success in school

but has not established a means for measuring readiness.

The Foundation for the Goal Team’s Work

The intent of North Carolina’s Readiness Profile and the

work of the Goal Team is to benefit children and the adults

who work with them. To fulfill this intent, the following set

of beliefs was developed as the foundation for the readiness

profile and assessment:

✐ All children are ready for school and can succeed

at some level.

✐ Readiness should be defined broadly to include

community, school, family, and children’s developmental levels.

✐ Readiness definitions and measurements should be

holistic, including multiple domains of a child’s development and taking individual and cultural differences into account.

✐ Data on children’s readiness should be used to design individualized curriculum activities but not to

determine a child’s placement in school.

✐ Schools have the responsibility to be “ready” to

serve all children.

3
These beliefs are further articulated in the preamble

found in Appendix B. Based on these beliefs, the Ready for

School Goal Team has worked to fulfill its charges: define

readiness, recommend how to measure school readiness,

and delineate how schools can be ready for all children. The

following pages detail the committee’s work and recommendations for these three charges.

CHARGE 1:

DEFINING SCHOOL

READINESS

The Goal Team developed a definition of school readiness

on the basis of the following three major activities:

✐ Researching national and state definitions

of readiness

✐ Gathering input from educators, service providers, and parents in North Carolina

✐ Seeking advice from nationally known experts in

the field of early childhood education

The following is a summary of our process of developing

a definition.

National Definitions

School readiness is a broad concept that encompasses

schools, communities, and children, and their early experiences. The National Association of State Boards of Education described these four aspects of school readiness in their

1991 report on school readiness, Caring Communities: Supporting Young Children and Families.

Additionally, the National Education Goals Panel Goal One

Task Force on School Readiness described five domains of

children’s development and learning that should be included

in any definition of school readiness: physical health and

motor development, social and emotional development, approaches toward learning (e.g., curiosity, persistence), language development, and cognition and general knowledge.

These national definitions emphasize the following

key points about school readiness:

✐ All children are ready to benefit from school.

✐ School readiness is much more than knowing ABCs

and numbers.

✐ The conditions of children as they enter school—

and their school success—will vary depending on

their innate abilities, previous experiences, access

to services, and schools’ expectations. It is not appropriate to expect all children to have a standard

set of skills when they enter school.

This national work on defining school readiness greatly influenced the team’s development of North Carolina’s definition. Information from other states also helped us develop

the definition.

Readiness Definitions across the 50 States

The National Center for Early Development and Learning

and SERVE, as charged by the North Carolina Ready for

School Goal Team, surveyed the early childhood specialists/coordinators from each State Department of Public Instruction to determine each state’s efforts to define and assess school readiness. Summary findings are listed below.

(A more detailed description of the study and its findings

are in Appendix C.)

Results from the survey indicated the following:

✐ Age is the only criteria used to determine when children can enter school, and the particular cut-off date

varies widely across states. No state bases school

entry decisions on children’s skills.

✐ A few states have developed profiles or benchmarks

of school readiness. Arkansas, Connecticut, Maryland, Mississippi, and West Virginia have frameworks or descriptions of “ready” children.

The state scan highlighted for us the fact that there is no

definition of school readiness that is used consistently across

the country. The Goal Team needed to develop its own

definition.

Definition Development Process

The Ready for School Goal Team used a multi-step process

to develop its definition of school readiness.

✐ The Goal Team discussed and agreed upon the five

domains of children’s development delineated by

the National Education Goals Panel, with slight

modifications in terminology.

✐ Within each domain, the Goal Team listed key characteristics and skills.

✐ Key constituents within North Carolina reviewed

the draft domain descriptions. The Goal Team organized five focus groups across the state to solicit

feedback. Some task force members also met with

other groups separately to discuss the draft. A

list of North Carolina reviewers is included in

Appendix D.

✐ National experts reviewed the draft domain descriptions. The Goal Team identified the following areas

of expertise and received reviews from at least one

person within each area: health, social and emotional

development, approaches toward learning, language

and literacy, cognition, language and cultural diversity, and young children with disabilities. A list of

the national experts and their area(s) of expertise is

included in Appendix E.

✐ The Goal Team revised the domain descriptions and

developed a definition based on feedback from national experts and in-state constituents.

4
Defining School Readiness in North

Carolina: The School Readiness Puzzle

School readiness is a puzzle with two pieces:

1. The condition of children when they enter school.

2. The capacity of schools to educate all children,

whatever each child’s condition may be.

The readiness puzzle can only be “solved” if the two pieces

fit together. We can improve the fit by enhancing both the

condition of children as they enter school and the capacity

of schools to educate the full range of children who attend

them. Each piece of the puzzle is important in the Ready for

School Goal Team definition of school readiness. The condition of children as they enter schools, schools’ capacity to

educate all children, and the supports to improve both pieces

of the readiness puzzle are described in this definition.

School readiness as described here should not be confused

with eligibility for school. All children who meet the legal

age requirement are eligible—indeed, they are legally entitled—to enter kindergarten.

Condition of Children

When we think of the condition of children as they enter

school, we must consider children’s development and learning in the following five areas:

Health and physical development includes children’s physical development (for example, rate of growth), health status

(for example, ability to see and hear), and physical abilities

(for example, ability to move around the environment, assisted or unassisted).

Social and emotional development includes children’s feelings about themselves and others, ability to form relationships, interest in and skills needed to maintain positive relationships with adults and children, ability to understand

the perspectives and feelings of others, and skills needed

to get along well in a group setting (for example, conflict

resolution skills).

Approaches toward learning includes curiosity, enjoyment

of learning, confidence, creativity, attention to task, reflection, and interests.

Language development and communication includes verbal and nonverbal skills to convey and understand

others’ meaning (for example, speaks

clearly or uses a nonverbal system of

communication) as well as early literacy

skills (for example, awareness of print, understanding that

writing has meaning). These skills and competencies apply

to all languages; we should expect children who do not speak

English in the home to demonstrate these skills in their primary language before they do so in English.

Cognition and general knowledge includes basic knowledge

about the world (for example, knows own name, knows basic science concepts) and other cognitive competencies like

early mathematical skills (for example, knowledge of numbers, shapes, and simple patterns), and basic problem-solving skills (for example, understanding of similarities and

differences).

These five areas are linked together. Often, development in

one area affects development in another. Thus, no single area

adequately represents a child’s condition of readiness as he

or she enters school.

Children’s development varies widely at age five. Thus, we

should not expect all children to reach a common “standard”

of readiness. Children from various cultures and with various experiences will express their competencies differently

and should be expected to show different patterns of development. The same is true for children with disabilities.

Capacity of Schools

All children will have an opportunity to enhance their skills,

knowledge, and abilities by participating in classrooms that

are sensitive to community values,

recognize individual differences,

reinforce and extend children’s

strengths, and assist them in overcoming their difficulties.

Schools are responsible for accepting and addressing the

learning needs of all children who are old enough to enter

kindergarten. Teachers and administrators must have the

knowledge, resources, and supports to ensure that they are

ready to teach children who come to school with a broad

range of skills.

The Goal Team identified the following four

cornerstones of Ready Schools:

✐ Knowledge of growth and development of typically

and atypically developing children

✐ Knowledge of the strengths, interests, and needs of

each child

5
✐ Knowledge of the social and cultural contexts in

which each child and family lives

✐ Ability to translate developmental knowledge into

developmentally appropriate practices

Additionally, teachers and administrators in ready schools

establish a nurturing atmosphere, use a curriculum that provides meaningful contexts for learning and addresses the five

areas of development described above, and support practices that address the unique ways in which young children

learn. Schools also build strong, positive relationships with

families and partner with preschool teachers, community programs, and higher education to ensure that they are able to

educate all children.

Supports for School Readiness

Each of the two pieces of the readiness puzzle—children

and schools—is supported by families and communities. The

condition of children at school entry depends upon their early

experiences. The people and environments in children’s lives

shape their readiness for school. Parents are children’s first

and most important teachers. The child’s relationship with

his/her parents forms the critical foundation for lifelong learning. Parents should have access to information and support

in their role. With so many working parents, many children

participate in some type of out-of-home early care and education before entering kindergarten. All children should have

access to high-quality early care and education programs

that help prepare them for school. Communities are responsible for providing the health care, early care and education,

training, and other support services young children and their

families need.

The capacity of schools to educate all children also depends

on their collaboration with families and communities to obtain supports such as professional development, physical

facilities, materials, and equipment.

The school readiness puzzle is depicted in the figure below.

Children and schools are the two pieces of the puzzle, and

they are supported by communities and families.

North Carolina’s Brief Definition

of School Readiness

School readiness is defined by

✐ The condition of children when they enter school,

based on the following five domains of development:

● Health and physical development

● Social and emotional development

● Approaches toward learning

● Language development and communication

● Cognition and general knowledge

✐ The capacity of schools to serve all children effectively (e.g., personnel, policies, practices, facilities,

materials)

Description of the Ideal Condition

of Children as They Enter School

A more detailed description of the ideal condition of children as they enter school is included in Appendix F of this

report. This document describes in more detail each of

the five areas of development and learning that are listed in

our definition.

Recommendations

The Goal Team recommends that this school readiness definition be officially approved as North Carolina’s definition

of school readiness.

CHARGE 2:

ASSESSING SCHOOL

READINESS IN

NORTH CAROLINA

Section Overview

This section of the report covers two areas related to assessing school readiness. First, we describe the Goal Team’s

school readiness assessment proposal for collecting data on

the condition of children and the readiness of schools. Second, we describe the data management system needed to

summarize and aggregate the state school readiness data.

6
We should be clear about our primary purposes (i.e., interests) in assessing children as they enter school because we

will need different assessment strategies for each purpose.

We need to include safeguards in our assessment system to

ensure that children benefit from, and are not harmed by, the

assessment system.

Different Assessment Purposes

There are two major purposes for assessing children as they

come to school:

1. Accountability: Assessment of children as they enter kindergarten provides the best source of data for

examining the impact of early experiences provided

by families, early child care and education programs

(e.g., childcare, Head Start and prekindergarten), and

communities on children’s preparedness for school.

2. Instruction: Assessment of children early in kindergarten provides an important source of information to help teachers effectively instruct each child

in their class.

Recommended principles for early childhood assessments

strongly discourage using one assessment for multiple purposes unless it is designed to do so. Because no current assessment of five-year-olds is designed to serve both accountability and instructional purposes, the committee had to design a separate assessment strategy for each purpose. This

approach was confirmed in our discussions with the group

of national experts that included developers of nationally

recognized assessments. In this section of the report, we make

recommendations about the accountability function of assessing children as they enter school. Recommendations regarding assessing children for instructional purposes are in

the Ready Schools section of this report.

When the committee began working on a strategy to assess

the condition of children, we knew we could not rely on the

paper-and-pencil tests that are often used for accountability

testing programs in grades three and above. (Five-year-old

children may not be able to hold a pencil correctly, let alone

take a paper-and-pencil test.) Parent and teacher ratings can

be a valid source of information about some abilities and

behaviors of young children (e.g., social skills) and must be

an integral part of any assessment system. Thus, the committee wanted to select an assessment strategy that included

parent and teacher ratings as well as information from the

children themselves that was not gathered through paperand-pencil means.

None of the states we examined are using assessments for

the same purpose that the North Carolina Task Force was

asked to investigate—specifically, statewide and community

accountability for the well being of children birth to age five.

Many states are adopting systems for assessing kindergarten readiness for instructional purposes. Because no state

provided a good model, we looked for national assessment

efforts that had accountability goals similar to ours. Two

national studies were designed to provide such accountability

7

School Readiness Assessment Proposal

The Goal Team recommends implementing a statewide

school readiness assessment system to obtain information

about each piece of the readiness puzzle: the condition of

children as they enter school and the capacity of schools to

educate all children. This system should provide state- and

county-level data on school readiness. The assessment for

each piece (children and schools) will be discussed separately in the following sections.

Assessing Children’s School Readiness

Tasks and Teachings: The committee’s recommendations regarding assessing children’s school readiness are based on

the knowledge gained from numerous activities. The committee examined what other states are doing

in defining and assessing school readiness, reviewed national studies of entering kindergartners, reviewed instruments available for assessing

readiness, and met with state and national experts in readiness assessment.

Specifically, the Goal Team did the following:

✐ Working with the National Center for Early Development and Learning (NCEDL) and SERVE, we surveyed early childhood specialists/coordinators in Departments of Education in all 50 states to learn about

current school readiness definitions and

assessments.

✐ Working with SERVE, we reviewed the major instruments available nationally and a variety of locally developed instruments used in assessing children as they enter school.

✐ We met with representatives from three states (Georgia, Maryland, and Ohio) actively engaged in statewide readiness assessment activities.

✐ With support from UNC General Administration,

we met with a selected group of national experts on

readiness assessment.

These activities taught us several important lessons:

School readiness should not be confused with eligibility for

school. All children who meet the legal age requirement are

eligible to attend public kindergarten. Assessing the conditions of children as they enter school can provide important

descriptive information, but that information should not be

used to make (or help make) school entry decisions.

Most states report that schools assess children as they enter

school, primarily for the purpose of guiding kindergarten

instruction and/or screening for potential disabilities. In most

states, local schools select their own assessment tools.

No state currently conducts a statewide assessment of the

conditions of children as they enter school, although at least

13 states are currently studying the issue or piloting assessment strategies.
information: the national Early Childhood Longitudinal Survey-Kindergarten cohort (ECLS-K) and the Family and Child

Experiences Survey (FACES). We examined these studies

carefully and met with key people working on both projects.

After this review, we decided that the ECLS-K assessment

battery was less relevant to North Carolina’s interests because the measures were chosen to assess growth in children’s

abilities from kindergarten through third grade—not to assess cohorts of kindergartners across time. The FACES battery, however, was developed for the specific purpose of assessing the skills of children entering kindergarten.

Battery for Assessing the Condition of

Children as They Enter School

We recommend that the FACES battery be adopted as

part of North Carolina’s prototype school readiness assessment, with modifications and additions to meet the

specific needs of North Carolina.

FACES is being used by Westat, Inc. in its national assessment of Head Start. The FACES battery was developed for

the purpose of program accountability to determine if Head

Start is meeting its objectives. The FACES battery consists

of individual assessments and observations of children, interviews with parents and teachers, and observations of classrooms. It has been used with over 4,000 randomly selected

parents and children from a randomly selected national

sample of 40 programs. It has been used successfully with

children who speak Spanish as their primary language and

children with disabilities. The child assessment can be completed in approximately 30 minutes.

The FACES battery was developed with extensive input from

a number of early childhood experts. The Principal Investigator of FACES, Dr. Nick Zill, is also a lead investigator on

the ECLS-K, another study of a large nationally representative sample of kindergartners. A substantial amount of work

has gone into the planning, development, and implementation of the FACES battery. The battery provides a comprehensive description of five-year-old children and their families that can be used for accountability monitoring.

A summary table of the FACES battery and proposed North

Carolina adaptations is included in Appendix G.

Data Collection Procedures

Who?

Parents, children, and kindergarten teachers will provide

information for the North Carolina School Readiness

Assessment.

✐ Parents of all entering kindergartners will complete

a brief information sheet about their child’s health,

early care and education experiences, interests, etc.

This sheet will be developed with input from local

schools to minimize overlap between this new form

and existing kindergarten registration forms. The

information will be entered into the NC WISE

database.

✐ A sample of kindergarten children will complete

the FACES measures in a one-on-one setting with a

trained, independent assessor. Children will be

sampled from the total population of entering kindergartners, using procedures to ensure that children

with disabilities and children who do not speak English as their primary language are included in the

sample. Collecting information from a sample of

children, rather than from all children, will minimize the likelihood that the information will be used

inappropriately to harm children, will ensure objective and accurate results, and will be a more costefficient method of gathering data on the population of entering kindergartners. We are currently consulting with a sampling expert to estimate the size

of the sample needed to make statewide and countylevel statements.

✐ The kindergarten teachers of children in the

sample will complete rating scales about children’s

social skills and approaches toward learning. The

data collection burden for teachers will be minimized

by asking them to complete measures on only some

domains of interest and only for the children included in the sample.

When?

Parents will complete the information sheet at kindergarten registration.

All child assessments and teacher ratings will be gathered during the first few months of school. To ensure

that the sample is non-biased and representative of the

population of entering kindergartners, children must be

selected once they are in school rather than before they

enter school. If the sample of children is selected before

school begins, many children likely will be excluded

(e.g., children who are not participating in an early care

and education program, children from low-income families, children whose families are on vacation). This exclusion of children would make the sample less representative of the population. The sample must be representative of the population of kindergartners to yield

useful information to the public and policymakers.

Where?

All information will be collected at the schools that house

kindergarten programs.

Data Collectors?

Trained, independent assessors will conduct the one-onone FACES child assessments. Training will ensure that

measures are administered similarly across children and

counties and that the results will be valid. The public

needs to be confident in the data when monitoring their

own county year-to-year or when comparing their

county’s data to state data. Using independent assessors

instead of kindergarten teachers will also minimize the

data collection burden among teachers. Accountability

assessment is high-stakes assessment that could affect

8
teachers. To the extent that kindergarten teachers might

be biased (positively or negatively) in their views of

children’s skills and abilities, an independent assessor

who is less invested in the outcome of the assessment

will yield more valid information. It might be possible

to recruit college students to conduct these child assessments as part of their education. It will be necessary for

these trained independent assessors to spend time in the

kindergarten classrooms where children are being assessed so the children are somewhat familiar with the

tester before the assessment is administered.

Special Considerations When

Assessing Children

A school readiness assessment system should represent all

children, including those who do not speak English as their

primary language and those with disabilities. The school

readiness assessment battery and data collection procedures

should be adapted to adequately assess the competencies of

these children who are included in the sample.

Assessing Schools’ Readiness for Children

To assess school readiness in North Carolina, it is just as

important to assess schools’ readiness for children as it is to

assess children’s readiness for school. The statewide school

readiness assessment system will include data about the capacity of schools to educate all children who enter kindergarten. This assessment will gather from

school administrators information such

as average kindergarten class size and

percentage of kindergarten teachers with

a B-K license. Kindergarten teachers will

provide information such as professional development opportunities and availability and variety of classroom materials. Goal

Team members, local school administrators, kindergarten teachers, and others will work together to develop tools for the assessment of schools’ readiness.

Recommendations

The Goal Team recommends that

✐ State financial and personnel resources be allocated

to implement a state school readiness assessment

system that describes the conditions of children as

they enter school and the capacity of schools to educate all children.

✐ The North Carolina Partnership for Children be responsible for conducting the assessment of the conditions of children as they enter school, with the cooperation from local schools and the support of the

State Board of Education and Department of Public

Instruction. We are recommending the North Carolina Partnership for Children because they have been

designated as the lead organization for ensuring that

all children are ready for school.

✐ The North Carolina Department of Public Instruction be responsible for conducting the assessment

of schools’ readiness for children.

✐ The FACES battery be approved as the basis for the

child component of the school readiness assessment

system and that it be completed near the beginning

of kindergarten. Adaptations to the FACES will most

likely need to be made to address North Carolina’s

five domains of children’s development and learning.

✐ Persons with expertise in the areas of special education and assessment of children from varying cultural/linguistic backgrounds help adapt the FACES

assessment battery to ensure that the battery accommodates the needs of special populations (e.g., children with disabilities and children who speak English as a second language).

✐ A sample of children, not all children, be included

in the assessment for conditions of children as they

enter school.

✐ The sample of children be large enough to allow us

to describe adequately children across the state and

to compare children across the 100 counties. We also

recommend that the sample not be large enough to

compare individual schools or programs at the

county level. However, the system could be designed

to collect data from a larger sample to provide additional county-level information. This accommodation would require county-level funding.

✐ The state sample of children be large enough and

selected purposefully to allow reporting on a program-by-program basis (e.g., Head Start, public preschool, community childcare programs).

✐ A pilot study of the school readiness assessment system be conducted in the fall of 2000.

✐ The tools for assessing schools’ readiness be developed as part of the pilot study.

✐ Data be collected for a trial period of at least

three years.

✐ The information management system of the public

schools (NC WISE) currently being developed be

used to collect and summarize critical data relevant

to school readiness and collect data on trajectories of

change across cohorts or groups of school children.

✐ The Ready for Schools Goal Team be continued as

an advisory group for implementation of the readiness assessment system.

Use of NC WISE to Manage

Assessment Data

Data Management Needs

When we begin collecting information for the Ready for

School assessment, it will need to be systematically entered

into a central place in order to summarize it within and across

counties. The ideal information management system would

9
handle child-level, family-level, school-level, and even community-level data and allow linkages between information

on preschool children and data collected about those children from K-12. When aggregate scores are viewed over

years, the data could help a community gauge whether their

early childhood quality initiatives are having an effect or,

perhaps, whether some efforts are more effective for specific sub-groups of children. The new student information

system being implemented by the public schools of North

Carolina, NC WISE is, in theory, ideally suited to handle

the type and amount of new information that will be collected as part of the recommended Ready for School measurement.

NC WISE Description

Through discussion with experts in the Office of Student

Information and Accountability (the office responsible for

overseeing the NC WISE system), the Goal Team learned

that the NC WISE database will be able to include almost

any counted, scored, or coded information on entering kindergartners or preschool children and their families.

For example, in compliance with federal law concerning

documentation about preschool children with special needs,

a component of NC WISE allows entry of data concerning

these children’s development and the types of services they

are receiving. A school system should thus be able to include similar information on other, non-special-needs preschool children in their community. The NC WISE database

could also include data on teachers and schools or be linked

to other databases that include such data (i.e., DPI teacher

licensing database).

Data Management Issues to Consider

Optimism about documenting different components of kindergarten readiness through NC WISE should be tempered,

however, by three points of realism.

✐ First, NC WISE is new, and school systems will just

begin using it in the years 2000-2002. Three school

systems (with 18 sites) and DPI are piloting NC

WISE in the 1999-2000 school year, and a state data

warehouse is being developed where all data will

ultimately be stored. About one-third of North

Carolina’s school systems will convert to NC WISE

in each of the next three years, with every system

on board by 2003. An advantage of the system’s

being new is that modifications to accommodate preschool and kindergarten entry data might be more

readily made during this time while the system is

being developed and as system modifications are

made each year in response to problems that are

discovered during the roll-out phase. Communication should be frequent between the Ready

for School Goal Team and the NC WISE development team.

✐ Second, we must be realistic about the data we expect

the NC WISE system to handle and cognizant of the

data entry ability of the variety of people who enter

data into NC WISE. Data entry must be a simple,

straightforward process that requires minimal training.

✐ Third, the following concerns related to security and

confidentiality will need to be resolved: Who has

access to the data? Do we need parental permission

to enter preschoolers’ data? How long will the data

remain in the system? Will preschool data become

part of the child’s permanent record? Existing rules

and procedures address, in theory, these types of

security concerns, but maintaining the integrity of

the day-to-day operations of such an ambitious new

endeavor will clearly be challenging. Because the

NC WISE system is new and open to changes, however, now is the perfect time for those interested in

having relevant preschool data included in NC WISE

to be a part of the decision-making group(s).

Recommendations

The Goal Team recommends that the NC WISE system be

used to collect and store data related to school readiness indicators and that this effort be coordinated with the school

readiness assessment system described in this report.

We recommend that the readiness assessment system pilot

study be coordinated with the NC WISE system pilot study.

This will allow us to determine any adaptations needed to

include the school readiness assessment information in the

NC WISE system.

We also recommend a trial period of at least three years before any school readiness data are officially reported from

the NC WISE system. Expectations of data reports on child,

family, and school readiness assessments will be high. Analysts producing such reports will be dealing with complex

issues, both substantive and logistical. North Carolina leaders should not expect reportable data within a year or two.

We think it is worth noting that Ohio, the state with one of

the most sophisticated, computerized readiness assessment

systems, allowed three years before the first report on readiness was expected. Data on 10,000 children were collected

in the first year, 20,000 in the second year, and 40,000 in

1999—after three years of implementation, they are 40 percent of the way to their goal of 100,000 children per year.

(Ohio’s population is similar to North Carolina’s.)

10
CHARGE 3:

SCHOOLS’ READINESS FOR

ALL CHILDREN: BEST

PRACTICE GUIDELINES FOR

NORTH CAROLINA

Are All Schools Ready for All Children?

This is a question of equal importance for the Goal Team.

Children come to schools with a wide variety of experiences,

skills, and attitudes. The overarching question is whether

schools are prepared to provide a learning environment that

meets the needs of each child so that children can be successful in school.

The Goal Team formed a subcommittee with the charge of

developing a profile of schools that are ready to receive all

children. The “Schools’ Readiness for All Children” subcommittee gleaned from many sources what is deemed philosophically sound and reflective of the national early childhood

research knowledge-base to develop strategies and standards

for parents, schools, and community leaders to consider to

better prepare our schools to receive our children. A full report from this committee is included in Appendix H. This

attached report describes best practices that all North Carolina schools can strive to achieve as they prepare to teach all

children entering kindergarten.

Cornerstones of Ready Schools

“It is the responsibility of schools to meet the needs of children as they enter and to provide whatever services are

needed in the least restrictive environment to help each child

reach his or her potential” (NAEYC, Position Statement on

School Readiness, revised, 1995).

The Ready Schools subcommittee identified four

cornerstones that ready schools should take into

account as they prepare to receive children:

1. Knowledge of growth and development of typically

and atypically developing children

2. Knowledge of the strengths, interests, and needs of

each individual child

3. Knowledge of the social and cultural contexts in

which each child and family lives

4. The ability to translate developmental knowledge

into developmentally appropriate practices

Features of Ready Schools

Building upon these four cornerstones, the subcommittee identified the following additional key features of

ready schools:

✐ Ready Teachers who are knowledgeable of basic

child development principles, “tuned in” to individual

children’s interests and abilities, able to provide a

classroom environment where children are actively

involved in learning activities, and working in

partnership with families and other adults in the

child’s world

✐ Ready School Environments where children are

nurtured through ongoing relationships with

caring adults, have opportunities to learn through

play and “hands-on” experiences with a variety of

materials, and experience predictable routines and

schedules

✐ Ready Curriculum and Instruction Strategies that

provide meaningful learning experiences to build

upon children’s individual abilities and interests and

that are grounded in developmentally appropriate

practices

✐ Ready Administrators who are knowledgeable of

child development and developmentally appropriate practices, support teachers in their role,

nurture family involvement, and put the needs of

children first

Transitions to Ready Schools

Special attention must be paid to the period of transition

when children first enter school. As children and families

move from home, preschool, or other types of early childhood programs, the child’s first experiences in kindergarten

set the stage for his or her success in school. A smooth transition that provides as much continuity for children as possible is the goal.

The Ready Schools subcommittee developed a description of the following elements of successful transitions:*

✐ Community-wide planning that involves families,

childcare and other early childhood providers, school

teachers and administrators, and a variety of community service agencies

✐ Transition activities, such as visits to the school,

planned cooperatively for children by their families,

care providers, teachers, and community service

providers

✐ Transition policies, programs, and practices that reflect the diversity and uniqueness of children, their

families, and the community

✐ Developmentally appropriate practices in all programs of care and education from birth to age eight

to ensure continuity in assessment, curriculum, and

instruction

✐ Coordinated staff development to bring early childhood providers and kindergarten teachers together

✐ Shared decision making that involves families as

active partners in their children’s care and education

✐ Written community transition agreements that are

created jointly between schools and service providers and are reviewed and revised as ongoing transition efforts are expanded

11
✐ Ongoing leadership and advocacy for effective transition practices by designating Transition Coordinators and representatives of each participating program/group with specific responsibilities for the

community’s transition plan

* Adapted from It’s a Big Step (1995), Bridging Early Services

Trasition Taskforce, Coordinating Council on Early Childhood

Developmental Services, Kansas State Board of Education

Screening and Assessment for

Instructional Purposes

Screenings for potential disabilities and assessments for instructional purposes are another feature of schools that are

ready to meet the needs of all children.

Screenings

 It is essential that schools have reliable and valid screening

instruments to identify children with disabilities early in their

school careers. These screenings identify children who need

further evaluation. This early detection is essential to increasing the likelihood that children with disabilities will receive

special services quickly.

Currently, the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction requires that all schools screen children for potential

disabilities. However, school districts use a myriad of screening tools, ranging from locally designed instruments with

no documented reliability or validity to commercially available tools that vary widely in quality.

Assessment for Instructional Purposes

Understanding children’s skills and abilities is important for

teachers as they plan curriculum activities to meet the needs

of children. This assessment for instructional purposes should

not be limited to reading and math, but should provide a

broad picture of the child’s development and learning (i.e.,

should include information about each of the five domains).

The teacher can then use this information to plan activities

that will help children develop skills they may not have when

they enter school.

North Carolina Department of Public Instruction has developed two instructional assessment tools for kindergarten

through second grade, known as the K-2 Assessment. The

first tool assesses children’s literacy skills, and the second

tool assesses mathematics skills. The instrument provides

information for teachers as they plan curriculum activities

and document children’s progress in these areas over time.

However, the K-2 Assessment addresses only two of the five

domains and includes few items to assess children’s readiness at the time they enter kindergarten. Kindergarten teachers need an instructional assessment tool that documents

children’s levels of readiness across all five domains at the

time they enter school. The K-2 Assessment could be modified to fit these purposes.

Assessing Schools’ Readiness for Children

Schools can conduct self-assessments of their readiness for

children. The Ready Schools subcommittee developed the

Ready School Inventory as a self-assessment tool for schools

to use. This inventory is included in Appendix I.

Ready Schools Summary

It takes families, teachers, schools, and communities working together to help children experience success in school.

Teachers need accurate information about their children to

plan curricular activities to meet children’s individual needs.

No one piece of the puzzle is sufficient to ensure success.

Recommendations

In order for schools to be ready to receive all children, the

Ready for School Goal Team recommends the following:

1. Data on schools’ readiness to educate all kindergartners be collected as part of the state school readiness assessment system.

2. The Department of Public Instruction be responsible

for conducting the assessment of schools’ readiness

for children.

3. The Department of Public Instruction encourage

schools to self-assess their readiness to educate all

children. The Ready School Inventory should be disseminated to all elementary schools to ensure that

every school in North Carolina is aware of the best

practices for schools to successfully serve all children entering kindergarten. Staff development activities will also be needed.

4. The Department of Public Instruction encourage

schools to work with the early childhood community, families, and community agencies to develop

transition plans to ensure a coordinated effort to

support children moving into kindergarten.

5. The State Board of Education and local boards of

education examine policies regarding personnel and

other resources to promote optimum instructional

conditions of children entering kindergarten, including the following:

● Qualifications of teachers working in kindergarten classrooms, including requirements for Birth

to Kindergarten (B-K) licensure for kindergarten teachers

● Ongoing staff development opportunities

for teachers

● Improved class sizes and student-to-teacher ratios

● Time allocated for teachers to plan, conduct

home visits, etc.

● Improved physical features of classrooms such

as size, availability of in-class sinks and toilets

for children, and developmentally appropriate

outdoor playground/learning areas

● Developmentally appropriate and individualized

curricula and classroom activities

6. State Board of Education, North Carolina Department of Public Instruction, and local boards of education work with other strategic partners, such as

private school systems, Head Start, and preschool

programs, to implement policies and procedures that

support best practices for all kindergarten children. 12
7. The Department of Public Instruction encourage

schools to use screening measures that are appropriate for the intended purpose and have demonstrated reliability and validity. They can do this by

providing a list of recommended screening measures

to all school districts.

8. The Department of Public Instruction modify the

K-2 Assessment tool, a tool to help teachers improve

their instruction, to cover additional domains of

children’s early development and learning. These

modifications can best be described in the following ways:

● Vertical Extension of the measure downward

includes items that will assess the competencies of children who enter kindergarten below

age-level on various domains.

● Horizontal Extensionof the measure provides

a more holistic assessment of children across

the domains identified by the Ready for School

Goal Team. The K-2 Assessment should be

modified to include, at minimum, assessment

of the social/emotional domain.

Consideration for the feasibility of administering the

modified K-2 Assessment should be paramount in

planning for these future modifications. The modifications should be completed during the three-year

pilot phase of the school readiness assessment system.

9. The Department of Public Instruction provide professional development opportunities to ensure appropriate administration of the modified K-2 Assessment.

10. The State Board of Education continue the Ready

for School Goal Team as an advisory group for implementation of these Ready Schools recommendations.

FUNDING STRATEGIES FOR

IMPLEMENTING

RECOMMENDATIONS

Short-term and long-term funding will be required to implement the Goal Team recommendations. For the Ready for

School Assessment, funding for the pilot phase could be secured from early childhood funding sources. Full implementation of the recommendations will require allocations from

the General Assembly or significant support from private

sources such as foundations.

Funding for the pilot, or short-term start-up phase, of the

Ready Schools recommendations could be secured from

Goals 2000, other education funds, or private sources. Significant funding from the Public School Fund will be required to ensure that all schools implement best practices

for kindergarten over the long-term. Funds for modifying

the K-2 Assessment could be provided by the Department

of Public Instruction. Incorporating school readiness data

into the NC WISE system can be accomplished for minimal

cost if completed in the design phase.

CONCLUSIONS

School readiness includes two key pieces: the condition of

children as they enter school and the capacity of schools to

educate all kindergartners. Each of these pieces requires

strong support from families, the early childhood community, public schools, and other community agencies. In this

report, the Goal Team has articulated the ideal characteristics of children and schools as pieces of the readiness puzzle

and proposed a comprehensive school readiness assessment

system to provide information about school readiness at the

state as well as county level. We have delineated several shortterm and long-term recommendations for assessing school

readiness, supporting the optimal development of children,

and enhancing the capacity of schools to receive and educate kindergartners. Appendix J assembles each of these ideas

and recommendations into a framework, depicting the major components of the Goal Team’s work and the recommendations for future activities.

Implementing these recommendations will require substantial resources. However, we must make these investments to

ensure that we provide the best education possible during

both the early childhood and public school years. Families,

early childhood providers, and schools working together can

help ensure children in North Carolina are ready for school

and schools are ready for children.

13
 Donna Bryant

National Center for

Early Develpment & Learning

FPG Child Development Center

Chapel Hill, NC 27599

Kelly Carlton

Head Start Parent

Greensboro, NC 27406

 Debra Clark-Jones

Associate Superintendent of Information &

Technology Services, NC DPI

Raleigh, NC 27601

Richard Clifford

National Center for Early Development and

Learning, FPG Child Development Center

Chapel Hill, NC 27599

 Carolyn Cobb

Chief

Accountability Services Evaluation Section

Raleigh, NC 27601

 Annette Combs

Professional Assoc. of Childhood Education

Private Day Care Operator

Greensboro, NC 27403

 Nancy Davis

Executive Director

Smart Start, Mecklenburg County

Charlotte, NC 28204

 Barbara Dellinger

Head Start, Mecklenburg County

Charlotte, NC 28203

 John Dornan*

Executive Director

 Public School Forum of North Carolina

Raleigh, NC 27612

Robin Britt* Co-Chair

Executive Director

United Child Development Services, Inc.

Greensboro, NC 27406

Susan Eaves* Co-Chair

Director, Federal Programs

Richmond County Schools

Hamlet, NC 28345

Judy White*

Director

Office of Education Reform, NC DPI

Raleigh, NC 27601

Margaret Arbuckle

North Carolina Child Advocacy Institute

Greensboro, NC 27408

Kathy Baars

Consultant

Pre-School Disabilities, NC DPI

Raleigh, NC 27601

Barbi Bailey-Smith*

Art Educator

Durham, NC 27701

Cecil Banks*

Office of the Governor

Raleigh, NC 27603

 Sharon Bibbs

Director

Bennett College Children’s Home

Guilford County Smart Start

Greensboro, NC 27401

 Mary Boat

Assistant Professor

College of Education

Western Carolina University

Cullowhee, NC 28723

APPENDIX A

Ready for School Goal Team

Membership List

 Bob Douglas

Member, State Board of Education

Chair of K-12 Assessment

Asheville, NC 28802

 Stefanie Fanjul

Department of Health and Human Services

Division of Child Development

Raleigh, NC 27626-0553

 Tom Fields

NC WISE, NC DPI

Raleigh, NC 27601-2825

 Michelle Finch

President

North Carolina Head Start Association

Durham, NC 27709

 Willie Gilchrist*

 Superintendent

Halifax County Schools

Halifax, NC 27839

 DeLinda Gladstone

President

North Carolina Association for the

Education of Young Children

Wilmington, NC 28409

 John Griffin

Director

Seamless Education

Fayetteville, NC 28311

 Lisa Gurganus

Project Manager

Information & Technology Services, NC DPI

Raleigh, NC 27626

 Jim Hall

Chair

North Carolina Childcare Commission

Wilmington, NC 28411

14
 Randall Henion

Superintendent

Stokes County Schools

Danbury, NC 27016

 Betty High Rounds

Sandhills Community College

Pinehurst, NC 28374

 Kim Hughes*

Kindergarten Teacher

North Carolina Teacher of the Year

Wake Forest, NC 27587

Barbara Kuligowski

Consultant

Even Start, NC DPI

Raleigh, NC 27601

 Kelly Maxwell

Frank Porter Graham

Child Development Center

Chapel Hill, NC 27599

 Ann McNeely

Richmond County Even Start

Rohanen Primary

Rockingham, NC 28379

 Delores Parker*

Vice President, Academic & Student Services

North Carolina Community Colleges

Raleigh, NC 27603

 Susan Peele

Rockingham County Schools

Eden, NC 27288-7547

 Barbara Pellins

Assistant Superintendent

Family & Community Services

Mecklenburg County

Charlotte, NC 28202

 Regina Penn

Head Start Parent

Greensboro, NC 27406

 Karen Ponder

Executive Director

The North Carolina Partnership

for Children, Inc.

Raleigh, NC 27604

 Beth Rector

President

North Carolina Day Care Association

Opening Doors Preschool

Whiteville, NC 28472

 Lucy Roberts

Chief

Early Childhood, NC DPI

Raleigh, NC 27601

 Susan Robinson

North Carolina Division of Mental Health

Raleigh, NC 27699

Bobbie Rowland

UNC-C, Department of Counseling,

Special Education & Child Development

Charlotte, NC 28223

 Susan Russell

Child Care Services Association

Chapel Hill, NC 27514

Gitanjali Saluja

National Center for Early

Development & Learning

FPG Child Development Center

Chapel Hill, NC 27599

Catherine Scott-Little

Early Childhood Project Director

SERVE

Greensboro, NC 27435

15

Staff Assistants

Dianne Kirkman

United Child Development Services, Inc.

Greensboro, NC 27406

Nadine Ejire

Office of Education Reform

NC DPI

Raleigh, NC 27601

Anthony Solari

Policy Analyst

North Carolina Partnership for Children

Raleigh, NC 27604

Charles Thompson*

Director

North Carolina Education

Research Council

Chapel Hill, NC 27515

 Hope Williams*

President

North Carolina Association of

Independent Colleges & Universities

Raleigh, NC 27605

 Catherine Woodall

Early Childhood Education Specialist

North Carolina Partnership for Children

Raleigh, NC 27604

*North Carolina School

Improvement Panel Members
17

APPENDIX B

Ready for School

Goal Team Preamble

North Carolina has accepted the challenge of increasing the readiness of all children for school and to improve the readiness

of schools for all children. The fundamental foundation for all of our efforts toward these goals is set forth below.

WE BELIEVE

1. Each child can succeed in school and reach his/her potential.

2. The needs of the children come first.

3. Parent(s)/guardian(s) are the child’s first and most important teachers and are valued partners with

teachers and caregivers throughout the child’s education.

4. Schools should be prepared to respond to each child’s strengths and needs.

5. The readiness of a child should be viewed from a holistic perspective.

6. Individual and cultural differences are to be valued and supported.

7. A variety of developmentally appropriate assessment tools/approaches that encompass a range of

readiness domains/elements is needed.

8. Communication, training, resources, and support are critical areas for successful achievement of “ready

kids” and “ready schools.”

9. The community should be a partner in helping parents and schools meet these needs.

10. There should be a systemic approach to ensuring that all children are ready to benefit from school.

READINESS PROFILE AND TOOLS WILL

1. Better inform teachers and caregivers, including parents, of the strengths/needs of children.

2. Assist all children in reaching high expectations.

3. Assist teachers and caregivers in identifying and building on children’s strengths.

4. Allow caregivers in the early childhood years to provide children with the appropriate foundation for

emerging language/literacy, numeracy, and other important skills.

5. Help kindergarten teachers move children toward educational accomplishment in the K-12 system.

6. Better equip private and public early childhood delivery systems to serve children and families.

7. Enhance instruction as well as establish system accountability for children’s readiness.

8. Inform early childhood and school systems about adjustments that are needed to improve services.

9. Prepare early childhood and school systems to address the needs of children at all levels of development

and readiness.

10. Create a positive transition to kindergarten for all children.

READINESS PROFILE AND TOOLS WILL NOT BE USED TO

1. Exclude children in any way.

2. Establish a pass/fail standard.

3. Label children.

4. Blame any part of the early childhood or education system.

5. Leave any child behind.

6. Create a deficit model that implies failure or shortcomings.

7. Push the curriculum down to a developmentally inappropriate level.

16
APPENDIX C

State Scan Survey Results

Gitanjali Saluja, Ph.D.

National Center for Early Development and Learning

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Catherine Scott-Little, Ph.D.

SERVE

Richard M. Clifford, Ph.D.

National Center for Early Development and Learning

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Purpose

Although there has been some effort to study school readiness at the national level, little is known about what is happening in individual states with regard to children’s readiness for kindergarten. To help fill this gap, SERVE and the

National Center for Early Development & Learning

(NCEDL), with assistance from several other Regional Educational Laboratories, conducted a national survey to document how states are defining and assessing school readiness.

They conducted interviews with at least one early childhood

specialist or other representative in all 50 states. The information below represents the information gathered through

this effort. For more detailed information on the results

of this survey, including information on specific states’

responses, please visit the following NCEDL website:

<http://www.fpg.unc.edu/~ncedl/school_readiness/>.

Note: The information below is meant to paint a general picture of states’ policies on school readiness. Because of the

nature of this survey and the fact that some respondents

shared more information about their state than others, it is

likely that some information is not included in our results.

When states were asked if they had a statewide

definition of school readiness (for kindergarten),

they reported the following:

✐ Forty-nine states responded that they had no formal, statewide definition.

Georgia responded as follows: Since the establishment of

the lottery-funded pre-k program in 1993, the state of Georgia has defined school readiness in two ways: (1) through the implementation of

the school readiness goals of the lottery-funded pre-k program, which

are to provide appropriate preschool experiences emphasizing growth

in language and literacy, math concepts, science, arts, physical development and personal and social competence, and (2) through the support of Goal One of the National Education Goals, which states that

“all children will enter school ready to learn” and then defines school

readiness to include family support, health care, and nutrition.

✐ Twenty-eight states responded that they use age to

determine eligibility for kindergarten. They all stated

that children were eligible for kindergarten based

on the date of their fifth birthday. These dates ranged

from June 1st to January 1st of their kindergarten

year. See Table 1.

✐ Five states (Illinois, Colorado, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Dakota) indicated that local districts

may have formal definitions for school readiness.

✐ Five states (California, Indiana, Kansas, Ohio, Wisconsin) indicated they believe that states should place

emphasis on schools being ready for all children.

When states were asked how they assess readiness

for school, they answered with the following:

✐ Thirteen have a statewide screening or assessment

that is conducted on children entering kindergarten

(See Table 2). However, the majority of these states

did not refer to this as “readiness testing.”

✐ Thirty do not mandate any readiness assessments,

but their local districts may choose to assess children previous to, or as they enter, kindergarten.

✐ Seven states (Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Kansas, Oklahoma, Nebraska, and Virginia) indicated

that they do not assess school readiness. Nebraska

prohibits districts from assessing readiness.

✐ Several states expressed concerns about readiness

assessments being misused to keep children out of

school.

✐ No states indicated that they used school readiness

data to delay children from school entry.

Conclusion

School readiness assessment has received considerable attention across the nation. By far, the most common approach

to defining and measuring school readiness is to define a

child as “ready” when he or she reaches a certain age criterion and to leave measurement of readiness to local districts.

Several states are, however, in the process of studying the

issue, piloting measures, and/or have developed a framework

for addressing readiness issues.

1513171312 17
Table 1:

Cut-off Dates for Eligibility for

Kindergarten

Date States

June 1st ........................... Indiana

August 1st ........................... Missouri

August 15th ........................... Alaska

August 31st ........................... Delaware

........................... Kansas

........................... North Dakota

........................... Washington

........................... Washington, D.C.

September 1st ........................... Alabama

........................... Arizona

........................... Florida

........................... Georgia

........................... Idaho

........................... Illinois

........................... Minnesota

........................... Mississippi

........................... New Mexico

........................... Oklahoma

........................... Oregon

........................... South Carolina

........................... South Dakota

........................... Texas

........................... West Virginia

........................... Wisconsin

September 2nd ........................... Utah

September 10th ........................... Montana

September 15th ........................... Arkansas

........................... Iowa

........................... Wyoming

September 30th ........................... Nevada

........................... Ohio

........................... Tennessee

........................... Virginia

........................... Louisiana

October 1st ........................... Kentucky

October 15th ........................... Nebraska

........................... Maine

October 16th ........................... North Carolina

December 1st ........................... Michigan

........................... New York

December 2nd ........................... California

December 31st ........................... Rhode Island

........................... Hawaii

........................... Maryland

January 1st ........................... Connecticut

........................... Vermont

Dates are determined at the local or district level

Colorado

Massachusetts

New Hampshire

New Jersey

Pennsylvania

Source: Education Commission of the States. Kindergarten: State

Characteristics. <http://www.ecs.org/ecs/ecsweb.nsf/>, March, 2000.

Table 2:

State Efforts to Assess

Prekindergarten and

Kindergarten Children

State Type of Screening

Alabama Alabama Learning Inventory

● Administered by teachers to every public

school kindergarten student within the first

four weeks of school.

● Measures pre-reading and quantitative

concepts.

● Information used for instructional purposes.

● Data compiled at the local and state level.

Alaska Alaska Developmental Profile

● Global measure used to provide summary

information on each school to the state

Department of Education.

● Districts decide how to gather the information.

● Information is used to determine patterns

and identify areas with high need.

Arkansas ● Health and developmental screening is

conducted on all children entering kindergarten.

Florida ● All children entering kindergarten are assessed

by their teachers within the first three weeks

of school.

● Local districts can decide upon instruments,

as long as they measure the 16 indicators

outlined by the state Department of Education.

● Information is used to guide instruction.

Louisiana Kindergarten Developmental Readiness

Screening Program

● Every kindergarten child is screened

within 30 days of the first day of school

(before or after).

● One of four state identified instruments

may be used.

● Information is used to guide instruction,

but is also collected at the state level.

Maryland Work Sampling System

● Data used as a school improvement device.

Minnesota ● Early childhood health and developmental

screening.

New Mexico ● All children undergo an initial screening upon

school entry.

New York ● All children are screened for health, English

proficiency, and motor, cognitive, and

language development.

North Carolina ● Early childhood health and developmental

screening.

Ohio ● Through naturalistic observations, teachers

collect data on children in preschool programs.

● The Galileo computer system is used to

aggregate data.

● Information is used for program accountability.

Tennessee ● General screening is done (usually the Brigance

is used) of all students entering kindergarten.

● Information is used to guide instruction.

Utah ● All kindergarten children are assessed during

the first two weeks of school.

● Information is used to guide instruction.

18
Ann Watts

Early Childhood Instructor

Forsyth Technical Community College

Ann Cunningham

Associate Professor

Guilford Technical Community College

Becky McCarson

Kindergarten Teacher

Yadkin County Schools

Camille Laudstrom

Lead Teacher

Gov. Morehead Preschool

Greensboro

Deborah Mitchum

Early Intervention Coordinator

OPC Area Program

Roxboro

Ellen Merrill

Preschool Disabilities Coordinator

Alamance-Burlington Schools

Katherine Shepherd

Section Chief

DHHS/DCD

Kathy Baars

Coordinator

Preschool Disabilities Programs

NC DPI

Kay Vann

Kindergarten Teacher

Yadkin County Schools

Sarah McGuire

Workforce Coordinator

DHHS/DCD

Shari Frinkhonfor Hurlee

Prekindergarten Teacher

Guilford County Schools

T. Outterbridge

Prekindergarten Teacher

Guilford County Schools

Beth Mann

Preschool Coordinator

Franklin County Schools

Jean Goodman

Executive Director

Guilford County Partnership for Children

Bonnie Craig

Executive Director

Developmental Day Care Program, Inc.

High Point

Carole Galloway

Staff Director

Hester’s Creative Schools

Greensboro

Belvin Smith

President

Creative Day School

Greensboro

Bob Grooms

President

Appletree ACAS

Greensboro

Katare Jackson

NC DCA, Pres. Elect

Executive Director

Work Family Resource Center

Winston Salem

Susan Stewart

B-K Program Director

Assistant Professor

Salem College

Cindy Bagwell

Consultant

Early Childhood Section

NC DPI

Bernadette Baker

Child Care Consultant

Division of Child Development

Wilmington

Lori Bates

Executive Director

BCPFC

Shallotte

Judy Beckert-Jones

Title I Specialist

Third Street Prekindergarten Center

Greenville

Andrea Biggs

Kindergarten Teacher

Wintergreen Primary School

Greenville

Debbie Black

Prekindergarten Teacher

Cabarrus County Schools

Irene Blount

Center Supervisor

Martin County Head Start

Mary Bond

Prekindergarten Teacher

Windsor Elementary School

Windsor

Tristan Bruner

Program Coordinator

Partnership for Children

Kinston

Carol Burney

Director

Head Start Bolivia

Janet W. Burns

Prekindergarten Teacher

Lenoir County Even Start

Kinston

APPENDIX D

List of North Carolina Reviewers

19
Karen P. Campbell

China Grove

Mary Beth Cosby

Licensing Consultant

DCD

Wilmington

Jennifer Dempsey

Director

CCR&R of Brunswick

Shallotee

Jane W. Freeman

Teacher

J.C. Roe School

Wrightsville Beach

Pam Garris

Teacher

Third Street Prekindergarten Center

Greenville

Pat Gurganus

Prekindergarten Teacher

Washington County Even Start

Plymouth

Sandy Guy

Prekindergarten Teacher

Gaston County Schools

Sharon Haley

Professor of Reading

East Carolina University

Jim Hall

President

Winter Park Preschools

Wilmington

Debby Hamilton

Kindergarten Teacher

Alderman Elementary School

Wilmington

Vivian Hamilton

Iredell County Partnership for Children

Statesville

Renee Harrell

Even Start Coordinator

Craven County Schools

Kitty Hedgepeth

Even Start Coordinator

Washington County Schools

Laurie Jackson

Prekindergarten Educator

Craven County Even Start

Donna Jacobs

Coordinator

Parent Involvement Coalition

Nancy Kane

Preschool Coordinator

New Hanover County Schools

Herzameh Keomin

Instructor

UNC-Wilmington

Gina P. Langston

Prekindergarten Teacher

H.B. Sugg Elementary School

Farmville

Anne Laukaitis

Cabarrus Partnership for Children

Concord

Diane Levine

Executive Director

Partnership for Children

Greenville

Judy Lewis

Literacy Specialist

Charlotte/Mecklenburg Schools

Linda Maxey

Teacher

Howe Prekindergarten

Wilmington

Linda McConnell

Preschool Coordinator

Gaston County Schools

Sandra Miller

Executive Director

Smart Start

Burgaw

Angela Mizelle

Even Start Director

Bertie County Schools

Kim M. Moore

Prekindergarten Teacher

Washington County Even Start

Pamela Mottola

Teacher

Howe Prekindergarten

Wilmington

Rosalee Noles

Kindergarten Teacher

Gaston County Schools

Debra Pace

Prekindergarten Specialist

Edgecombe County Schools

Mary Peeler

Preschool Coordinator

Craven County Schools

Carol Pelt

Matthews

Charlotte Pfeifer

Central Piedmont Community College

Charlotte

Irene Pollard

Director, Title I

Edgecombe County Schools

Beth Pottle

Education Coordinator

UCP Developmental Center

Wilmington

Diane Robinson

Even Start Coordinator

Carteret County Schools

20
Bobbie Rowland

Early Childhood Professor

UNC-Charlotte

Polly Russ

Administrator/Owner

Kid’s Connection Child Care

Shallotee

Anne Scharff

Policy Consultant

Division of Child Development

Lou Anne Shackelford

Program Administrator

Greene County Family Literacy

Snow Hill

Sandy Steele

Inclusion Specialist

Partnership for Inclusion

Kinston

Tammy Stephenson

President

Pitt County PTA Council

Greenville

Sheri Strickland

Preschool Coordinator

Third Street School

Greenville

Gail Summer

B-K Higher Education Consortium

Lenoir-Rhyne College

Hickory

Carolyn Williams

NC PTA

Wilmington

Tabitha Wright

Section Chief

Division of Child Development

Paul C. Wright

Kindergarten Teacher

Wintergreen Primary School

Greenville

Robin Britt

Executive Director

United Child Development Services

Greensboro

Dwight Whitted

Consultant

Early Childhood Section

NC DPI

Barbara Kuligowski

Consultant

Early Childhood Section

NC DPI

Sharon Smith-Wise

Even Start Coordinator

Avery County Schools

Susan Taylor

Preschool Coordinator

Avery County Schools

Joyce Poplin

Kindergarten Teacher

Nebo Elementary School

N. Ronald Branford

Executive Director

Buncombe County Partnership for Children

Cathy Pollock

Director

Early Childhood Programs

A-B Technical Community College

Asheville

Thomas Oren

Assistant Professor

Dept. of Human Services

Western Carolina University

21

Joyce Green

Director

Developmental Evaluation Center

Interagency Coordinating Council

Asheville

Lucy Pickens

Macon Program for Progress

Franklin

Mary Lee Sease

Kindergarten Teacher

Haywood County Schools

Sharon Bentley

Preschool Coordinator

Transylvania County Schools

Sheila Hoyle

Executive Director

Southwestern Child Development

Commission

Webster
APPENDIX E

National Expert Reviewers

Health

David Bruton: Pediatrician; Secretary of North Carolina

Department of Health and Human Services

Social and Emotional Development

Marion Hyson: Director of Professional Development for

the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC); former university, preschool, and kindergarten teacher; studies early emotional development

Stanley Greenspan: Professor of Clinical Psychiatry, Behavioral Science, and Pediatrics at the George Washington

University Medical School; expert in young children’s social and emotional development

Approaches toward Learning

Sam Meisels*: Professor, Michigan University; expert in

early childhood assessment and school readiness; author of

the Work Sampling System

Language and Literacy

Marilyn Adams: Professor, Harvard University; member

of the Committee on the Prevention of Reading Difficulties

in Young Children; expert in literacy acquisition

Catherine Snow*: Professor, Harvard University; chair of

the Committee on the Prevention of Reading Difficulties in

Young Children; expert in language and literacy acquisition

Cognitive Development and General

Knowledge

Robert Siegler: Professor, Carnegie Mellon University; expert in the development of children’s problem-solving and reasoning skills

Prentice Starkey: Associate Professor of Cognition and

Development at the University of California at Berkeley; expert in the development of young children’s mathematical skills

Overall Reviewers

Sue Bredekamp*:Council for Early Childhood Professional

Recognition; co-editor of NAEYC’s Developmentally

Appropriate Practice in Early Childhood Programs

Sharon Lynn Kagan*: Senior Associate, The Bush Center

in Child Development and Social Policy, Yale University;

current president of the National Association for the Education of Young Children; chair of multiple national school

readiness committees

Sam Meisels*: Professor, Michigan University; expert in

early childhood assessment and school readiness; author of

the Work Sampling System

Special Needs Issues

Don Bailey:Frank Porter Graham Child Development Center; expert in young children with disabilities; co-author of

Assessing Infants and Preschoolers with Handicaps

Scott McConnell: Professor in the Educational Psychology

Department at the University of Minneapolis; investigator

for the Early Childhood Research Institute on Measuring

Growth and Development; expert in the development of

young children with disabilities

Mary McEvoy: Professor in the Educational Psychology

Department at the University of Minneapolis; investigator

for the Early Childhood Research Institute on Measuring

Growth and Development; expert in the development of

young children with disabilities

Pat Wesley: Frank Porter Graham Child Development Center; expert in young children with disabilities; Principal Investigator of Partnerships for Inclusion

Cultural Diversity Issues

Kenji Hakuta*: Professor, Stanford University; expert in

language acquisition and bilingual education

Evelyn Moore*:President of the National Black Child Development Institute; expert in how schools can best serve

young African-American children

Catherine Snow*: Professor, Harvard University; chair of

the Committee on the Prevention of Reading Difficulties in

Young Children; expert in language and literacy acquisition

* Member of or advisor to the Goal One (Ready to Learn) Subgroup of the

National Education Goals Panel

223
APPENDIX F

Description of the Ideal

Condition of Children

A description of the condition of children as they enter

school should include children’s development and learning

in five domains:

● Health and Physical Development

● Social and Emotional Development

● Approaches toward Learning

● Language Development and Communication

● Cognition and General Knowledge

These five domains are linked together. Often, development

in one area affects development in another. Thus, no single

area adequately represents children’s condition as they enter school. Additionally, some skills, such as asking complex questions, fall under more than one domain (e.g., language and cognition). For purposes of clarity, however, each

skill or condition described in this report is placed under

only one domain.

Children’s development varies widely at age five. Thus, we

should not expect all children to reach a common “standard”

of readiness. Children from various cultures and with various experiences will express their competencies differently

and should be expected to show different patterns of development. The same is true for children with disabilities.

This document describes the ideal condition of children as

they enter school. We should not expect any one child to

demonstrate all of the skills delineated in this document.

However, we should work hard to ensure that each child—

including those with disabilities—has the opportunities

needed to develop competencies across all five domains.

Finally, this description of the ideal condition of children

should not be used to determine whether a child should enter kindergarten. All children who meet the legal age requirement are entitled to attend kindergarten, regardless of their

competencies.

The domains and their descriptions are based on (a) the work

of the National Education Goals Panel, (b) the North Carolina Goal Team members’ expertise, (c) feedback from key

constituents in North Carolina, and (d) feedback from national experts in each of the five areas. In the following sections, each of the five domains is described in detail.

Health and Physical Development

Ideally, children entering school will be able to see and hear

well or have their vision and hearing problems addressed to

the extent possible. They will also have healthy teeth (or

have their dental problems treated). Children entering school

will have been immunized on schedule to prevent diseases.

Diseases and other health problems will be detected and

treated as early as possible. Early identification and

intervention are also critical for children with disabilities.

Ideally, children entering school will be adequately rested,

physically fit, and will have a balanced, nutritious diet to

ensure that they have the energy needed to focus on learning. Children will also be as mobile as possible (assisted or

unassisted) to maximize their ability to explore the environment. Ideally, children will demonstrate many age-appropriate motor skills such as balance, coordination, strength,

and ability to grasp writing tools. Finally, children entering

school will demonstrate some self-help skills, such as dressing themselves.

Social and Emotional Development

When children enter school, they ideally will demonstrate

the emotional well being and social skills needed to interact

well with adults and other children. They will be able to

form and keep close relationships with familiar adults and

other children. Ideally, children entering school will begin

to identify and express their own feelings age-appropriately.

This includes beginning to develop the ability to manage

their anger. Children will also begin to understand others’

feelings and intentions (e.g., tell the difference between accidental and intentional actions). They will respect (i.e., not

hurt/damage) other people and property. When conflict arises,

they ideally will work to resolve it positively and seek adult

help when needed.

Ideally, children will demonstrate some degree of independence by separating relatively easily from their parents and

working or playing alone at times. They will follow basic

rules and routines and be able to adapt to small changes in

routines. They also will participate in group activities and

work or play cooperatively with other children.

In this section, we have described some ideal indicators of

social and emotional development for children entering

school. However, children will demonstrate a wide range of

skills. Additionally, it is important to recognize that social

and emotional development is influenced by cultural expectations. Thus, it is important to understand children’s social

and emotional development in the context of both their home

and school cultures.

Approaches toward Learning

This domain includes children’s attitudes toward and interests in learning. Unlike the other four domains, the indicators that fall under this domain are less well-defined and

less observable. However, this domain is equally important.

Ideally, children entering school will be curious and confident in their own ability to learn (e.g., show pride in their

accomplishments) and enjoy exploration and discovery

through play. They will enjoy learning and demonstrate some

personal areas of interest as well as strategies for finding out

more about those interests (e.g., asking questions). They will

express creativity and imagination through a variety of

avenues that may include movement, music, dramatic play,

and art. They will take initiative when appropriate. Ideally,

23
children will be able to attend to a task for a short period of

time. Finally, children entering school will persist with tasks

even after encountering obstacles.

Language Development and

Communication

By the time children enter school, they have developed many

language and communication competencies. Children entering school will use language as a tool to communicate

their needs, to interact socially with others, and to describe

events, thoughts, and feelings. Ideally, they will have a large

vocabulary in their home language, be able to produce sentences of several words, and be able to ask and answer openended and cognitively challenging questions (e.g., where,

when, why, and how). Ideally, children’s speech will be understandable to unfamiliar adults. Children will be able to

demonstrate age-appropriate listening skills, such as recognizing rhymes and identifying two words that start with the

same sound.

Children entering school will also be aware of print (e.g.,

recognize the association between spoken and written words,

recognize familiar alphabet letters). They ideally will be interested in books and stories and will understand basic story

components (e.g., know that a story follows a sequence).

When they enter school, children will know that writing involves making marks that convey meaning on paper. Ideally, children entering school will also use language creatively

(e.g., play with rhymes, develop and relate a story).

In North Carolina, an increasing number of children entering school come from families who speak a language other

than English. The competencies listed above can be developed in any language and, for most children, will be developed first in their primary language (i.e., whatever language

the parents feel the most comfortable with and competent to

support). Strengthening the language and communication

competencies in children’s native language will help prepare them for the additional task of learning English.

Cognition and General Knowledge

Children entering school will have a basic knowledge about

the world. They will, for instance, know their own name and

know the names of some colors. They will have a basic awareness of self, family, and community. They will understand

that their actions have an effect on their environment and be

able to think about things that are not present. When children enter school, they ideally will understand simple science concepts such as living vs. non-living things. Additionally, children will demonstrate good problem-solving skills.

As children enter school, they will also demonstrate some

age-appropriate mathematical skills. Ideally, children will

understand basic dimensions such as time (e.g., before and

after), distance (e.g., longer, shorter), speed (e.g., faster,

slower), and size (e.g., bigger, smaller). They will understand one-to-one correspondence and will know some basic

cardinal number names (e.g., one, two) as well as ordinal

number names (e.g., first, second). Ideally, children will understand spatial concepts (e.g., left, right) and basic geometric concepts (e.g., square). They will also have a beginning understanding of patterns and be able to informally

measure properties of concrete objects (e.g., identify which

of two sticks is longer).

Children with Special Needs

The five domains of development and learning are important for all children, including those with disabilities. It is

also important to note that every child, including those with

disabilities, will demonstrate strengths in particular areas.

We can support each child’s optimal development by recognizing, building on, and expanding those strengths. However, adaptations and modifications may be necessary when

considering the development and learning of children with

disabilities. The following examples illustrate this point.

Children with some disabilities may have significant challenges to their health. Maximum health and physical development for them may be substantially different from that of

their peers. By considering the characteristics described in

the Health and Physical Development domain, families of

such children and the professionals serving them can ensure

that necessary monitoring and interventions are provided to

minimize the potentially negative impact of such challenges

on the children’s capacity to grow, learn, and develop.

For the Approaches toward Learning domain, it is necessary

to consider first the unique ways in which each child interacts with his or her environment and the factors affecting

that interaction. For example, children who have experienced

safety, stability, predictability, and stimulation in their environments prior to coming to school may manipulate and

explore materials and space in different ways from those

who have not. Children with cognitive challenges or sensory impairments may express curiosity and demonstrate persistence differently from other kindergarten children.

Summary

This description of the ideal condition of children as they

enter school is intended to help schools, early childcare and

education programs, families, and communities in North

Carolina develop a common understanding of the ideal characteristics of entering kindergartners. The description is not

intended to be exhaustive but rather illustrative of the kinds

of skills to support in young children as they enter school.

Children’s development in each of these areas will vary

widely, and we should not expect children to have a particular set of skills before they enter school. However, we should

work to ensure that every child has opportunities to develop

competencies in each of the five areas of development

and learning.

24
APPENDIX G

FACES Assessment Battery Chart

School Readiness Domain FACES Battery Possible NC

Adaptations/ Additions

Health and Physical Parent questionnaire includes Add data from Kindergarten

Development several questions about health, Health Assessment on immunizaincluding the Rand health status tions and screenings

question

Social and Emotional Parent and teacher: adaptation of Use the SSRS in its original form

Development Social Skills Rating Scale (SSRS)

Approaches toward Learning Not covered Use SSRS

Language and Communication Peabody Picture Vocabulary Consider Oral and Written LanTest-III (PPVT-III) receptive guage Scale instead of PPVT-III

vocabulary measure and WJ-R

Woodcock-Johnson-Revised

(WJ-R) Letter-Word Identification

WJ-R Early Writing

Print Awareness

Cognition and General WJ-R Knowledge of Numbers and Consider adding Bracken Basic

Knowledge Counting Concept Scale—Shape and

Direction/Position subtests

WJ-R Arithmetic Calculations

McCarthy Number Memory

Child questionnaire about basic

self and family facts

25
APPENDIX H

Schools Ready for

All Children Report

Best Practice Guidelines for

North Carolina

Making Schools “Ready” for Kindergartners: Executive Summary

All children are ready for school when they reach the age of

eligibility! Ready schools believe that children entering kindergarten come with a variety of skills and abilities. Because

of children’s individual differences, Ready Schools respond

to this uniqueness by initially assessing each child’s experiential base and individualizing curriculum and teaching practices.

After extensive review of the documented, research-supported early childhood knowledge base, the “Schools’ Readiness for All Children” committee has developed recommendations for strategies and standards that parents, schools, and

community leaders should consider to better prepare schools

to receive our children. These strategies and standards are

deemed philosophically sound and reflect the national early

childhood knowledge base. This Executive Summary provides a summary of the committee’s work. Full recommendations and background information are provided in the complete report.

Readiness hinges on many factors including (1) children’s

health and physical development; (2) social and emotional

development; (3) approaches to learning; (4) language and

communication skills; and (5) cognitive factors. Schools are

responsible for enhancing the quality of the teaching and

learning that will go on in the classroom as children enter

eager to learn and “ready to succeed.”

The committee identified the following four cornerstones that should guide Ready Schools:

1. Knowledge of growth and development of typically

and atypically developing children

2. Knowledge of the strengths, interests, and needs of

each individual child

3. Knowledge of social and cultural contexts in

which each child and family live

4. The ability to translate developmental knowledge

into developmentally appropriate practices

The committee deemed the following as most important to Schools’ Readiness:

✐ Knowledge and understanding of developmentally

appropriate early education practices needed to help

children reach their full potential

✐ The importance of teachers’ readiness if children are

to experience success in the early school years

✐ The importance of establishing a nurturing atmosphere in the classroom and making the facilities

serve the curriculum and instructional needs of children and families

✐ A curriculum that provides meaningful contexts for

learning and addresses learning in all developmental areas—physical, social, emotional, linguistic,

aesthetic, and intellectual

✐ Administration’s readiness, which translates the

unique ways young children learn into classroom

and schoolwide best practices

✐ Administrators who develop and nurture authentic

partnerships with children, site-based teachers, preschool teachers, parents, community, and institutes

of higher education

Parents, teachers, administrators and communities forming

partnerships and working together to provide “what is best

for children” will be North Carolina’s cause for celebration

when children have access to high-quality, developmentally

appropriate “Ready Schools.”

Best Practice Guidelines for North Carolina:

Making Schools “Ready” for Kindergartners

All children are ready for school when they reach the age of

eligibility!

Ready schools believe that children entering kindergarten

come with a variety of skills and abilities. Because of children’s

individual differences, Ready Schools respond to this uniqueness by initially assessing each child’s experiential base and

individualizing curriculum and teaching practices.

I. Philosophy, Research, and Early Childhood

Knowledge Base

Current understandings and philosophical approaches

to developmentally appropriate early education indicate

that “it is the responsibility of schools to meet the needs

of children as they enter and to provide whatever services are needed in the least restrictive environment to

help each child reach his or her potential” (NAEYC,

Position Statement on School Readiness, revised, 1995).

“The nature of children’s development and learning dictates two important school responsibilities. Schools must

be able to respond to a diverse range of abilities within

any group of children, and the curriculum in the early

grades must provide meaningful contexts for children’s

learning rather than focusing primarily on isolated skills

acquisition” (NAEYC, Position Statement on School

Readiness, revised, 1995).

26
Children entering kindergarten come with a variety of

skills and abilities. Because of children’s individual differences and variations in their development and experiences, schools and teachers must be able to respond to

their uniqueness by individualizing their curriculum and

teaching practices.

Broad agreement has been reached by the early childhood development community that programs that will

contribute to children’s development and enhance their

learning must be based on the following:

✐ Knowledge of growth and development of typically and atypically developing children

✐ Knowledge of the strengths, interests, and needs

of each individual child

✐ Knowledge of the social and cultural contexts

in which each child and family lives

✐ The ability to translate developmental knowledge into developmentally appropriate practices

Schools and teachers must know how to plan a developmentally appropriate curriculum that places a major

emphasis on child-initiated, teacher-supported learning

experiences; both small and large group activities; integrated lessons; hands-on learning with a variety of materials and activities; and continual progress evaluation

and assessment throughout the primary grades.

Schools, teachers, parents, and community need to work

together to ensure that every child enters kindergarten

(school) with the opportunity to experience success and

to attain educational achievement. Exclusion is not acceptable. In a Ready School, all children are provided

with a firm foundation for learning. As the children arrive at school, they will learn best in the context of the

community where they are valued and safe and where

developmentally appropriate practices address their

physical, social, and emotional needs as well as their

intellectual development.

II. The Teacher’s Readiness for the Child

The primary goal for kindergarten teachers is to support

the development of all children. To achieve this goal,

teachers need to know the uniqueness of each child with

regard to individual learning styles, interests and preferences, personality and temperament, skills and talents,

challenges and difficulties. The teacher must support the

development of a positive sense of self-identity in all

children if they are to experience success in the early

school years. Essential dimensions of the early educator include the following:

✐ Knowledge of child development

✐ Knowledge of the implications of child

development

✐ Knowledge of curriculum that promotes

children’s learning in cognitive, language,

social, physical, and affective domains

✐ Planning, creating, and organizing learning environments for active exploration and a high

level of interaction

✐ Communicating and forming partnerships with

important influences in the child’s world (parents,

colleagues, administrators, the public, and others)

✐ Seeking continual professional growth, advocating for developmentally appropriate early education, and engaging in self-evaluation of their

teaching behavior

To perform these functions effectively for all children,

the teacher must have knowledge of growth and development of both typically and atypically developing children and be able to translate that knowledge into developmentally appropriate practices by

✐ Employing developmentally appropriate practices (Management of Instructional Time)

✐ Fostering self-regulation in children (Management of Student Behavior)

✐ Facilitating active learning (Instructional

Presentation)

✐ Observing children’s activity in naturalistic

settings (Instructional Monitoring of Student

Performance)

✐ Facilitating children’s inquiry and discovery (Instructional Feedback)

✐ Planning for children’s learning (Facilitating

Instruction)

✐ Interacting positively with children, parents, coworkers, and community (Interaction with the

Educational Environment)

✐ Interacting with and relating to the professional/

family/community environment (Performance

of Non-Instructional Duties) (TPAI, revised

4/25/97)

“Early educators must be schooled in and encouraged

to use a wide variety of developmentally appropriate

curricula, materials, and procedures to maximize each

child’s growth and development” (Position Statement

on Goal One of America 2000, December 1996).

III.The Readiness of the Environment and

Curriculum

“The most important strategy for addressing school

readiness is to prepare the school to be responsive to the

wide range of experiences, backgrounds, and needs of

the children who are starting school.”

Readiness: Children and Schools, Lillian G. Katz, 1991

The Environment

Establishing a nurturing atmosphere in the classroom

and making the facilities serve the curriculum and instruction needs of the children is challenging. Learning

centers allow choices of materials and activities by

27
providing stability and order to the classroom while encouraging children to explore and experiment. They

provide interrelated, hands-on experiences that meet

children’s developmental needs and interests. Multicultural

materials reflect heritages and communities. Well-planned

centers foster development of physical and social skills as

well as language and cognitive processes.

Additionally, learning centers provide many ways for

children to develop skills and concepts in learning. At

the kindergarten level, centers provide for rigorous exploration and experimentation with many materials and

ideas, along with opportunities for children of varying

abilities and needs to expand their understanding and

knowledge. Play is the essence of young children’s understanding. Informal work and play activities are major environmental components that enhance children’s

learning. Center activities and experiences develop language (literacy, reading, writing, listening, and spelling)

skills and mathematics (numeracy) concepts as well as

knowledge in other disciplines.

“It is the responsibility of schools to meet the needs of

children when they enter school and to provide whatever services are needed in the least restrictive environment to help each child reach his or her fullest potential.”

NAEYC Position Statement on School Readiness, 1995

Dimensions of the Environment

✐ The younger the child, the more informal is the

environment.

✐ Informal learning environments encourage spontaneous play.

✐ Group projects that include investigations of

worthwhile topics strengthen dispositions to

observe, experiment, inquire, and examine the

worthwhile aspects of the environment. This

should include constructions and dramatic play

as well as early literacy and numeracy activities.

✐ The environment is designed for active learning, with well-equipped centers addressing all

areas of development.

✐ Classrooms are multi-cultural, with respect

for diversity.

✐ Learning and discovery occur naturally during play.

✐ The environment promotes appropriate behavior, positive self-concept, social interaction, selfregulation, independence, and effective supervision in the classroom.

The Physical Environment

The layout of physical space welcomes anyone entering

the schools and fosters encounters, communication, and

relationships. The arrangement of centers, materials, and

activities encourages choices, problem solving, and discoveries in the process of learning and is designed for

safety and appropriate safety supervision. The physical

space should include classroom learning centers based

on the needs and the size of the group, using the centers

and the space needed for the materials. Teachers face

the challenge of space useable for children, and in doing so, must value and respect children’s perspectives.

The North Carolina Department of Public Instruction

suggests guidelines for both indoor and outdoor facilities.

The Schedule

Effective scheduling is key to the success of an early

childhood curriculum. Four principles for developing

schedules are

✐ Include daily rituals and routines.

✐ Balance open-ended and structured time.

✐ Allow sufficient time for activities and routines.

✐ Encourage children to develop awareness of time.

The Early Childhood Environmental Rating Scale (ECERS) by

Harms, Clifford & Cryer (1988) provides evaluative descriptions

of schedules.

Curriculum and Instructional Strategies

The early childhood (kindergarten) curriculum is the

planned management of time, materials, and activities

to guide children’s learning and development. It is an

organized framework that delineates the content children are to learn, the processes through which they

achieve the identified curricular goals, what teachers do

to help children achieve these goals, and the context in

which teaching and learning occur. Ideally, the curriculum is shaped by communities and families as well as

by children and teachers. Classroom practice is driven

by the information teachers gain from developmentally

appropriate assessment (including K-2 assessment).

While gaining content knowledge is a goal, curriculum

includes everything that happens from the time children

walk into the classroom until the time they leave, including human interactions, teaching strategies, language

and tone, and the physical arrangement of the room and

the materials in it.

Curriculum Should

✐ Provide meaningful contexts for the child’s

learning rather than focusing on isolated skill

acquisition.

✐ Emphasize informal work and play, activities

related to the child’s direct, first-hand experience, opportunity to apply skills to meaningful

contexts, and a wide variety of teaching methods.

✐ Respond to the range of children’s backgrounds

and needs.

✐ Reflect that young children learn most effectively when they are engaged in interaction

rather than in receptive and passive activities.

✐ Reflect that young children are most likely to

strengthen their natural dispositions to learn

when they are interacting with adults, peers,

materials, and surroundings in ways that help

them make better and deeper sense of their own

28
experiences and environment. (This is best done

through investigating and purposefully observing, recording, and representing their findings

and observations though activities such as

talking, painting, drawing, construction, writing, and graphing.)

✐ Employ developmentally appropriate practices

using a wide variety of materials; allow for child

initiation; provide for child engagement (time

on task), exploration, etc.

✐ Respond to information gained from developmentally appropriate assessment (including K2 assessment).

✐ Construct integrated goals that address learning in all developmental areas: physical, social,

emotional, linguistic, aesthetic, and intellectual.

✐ Facilitate language and communication

development.

✐ Respect and support individual, cultural, and linguistic diversity.

✐ Provide for children with special needs.

IV. The Readiness of the Administration

“Instead of asking ‘Are our children ready for kindergarten?’ it is more appropriate to ask ‘Are our kindergartens

ready for children?’ Neither raising the entry age nor using

other readiness criteria will ensure children’s success in kindergarten. Only an appropriate curriculum can make that

success possible.”

Peck, McCraig, & Sapp, 1988, p. 27.

A. Administrator’s Role in Preparing School

Environment

● Possesses knowledge of developmentally appropriate practices and HOW schools MUST

translate this knowledge into classroom and

schoolwide best practices.

● Establishes an authentic site-based management

team that includes parents.

● Utilizes authentic and appropriate teacher

evaluation tools.

● Insists that staff development is research based

with site-based delivery or professional leave

time granted; staff should be involved in development of training needs and delivery of instruction.

● Puts the needs of children FIRST.

B. Administrators Develop and Nurture

Authentic Partnerships with Children

● Needs are assessed authentically via teacher observations, work samples, interviews, etc.

● Individual needs are acknowledged and met via

personalized education plans.

● Whole child development is valued and reinforced in ALL settings.

Site-Based Teachers

● Teacher leadership/empowerment is

encouraged.

● Teachers are involved with Site-Based Management Team.

● Release time is offered to attend developmentally appropriate trainings and for team planning/sharing to include all educators who work

with this age group.

Preschool Teachers

● Continuum of learning exists.

● Relationships are cultivated and valued.

● Ongoing communication is supported.

● Expectations are clearly defined.

● Readiness and transition workshops are offered

jointly by preschool and kindergarten teachers.

Parents

● Innovative vehicles exist for real involvement

within schools.

● Partnerships value parents.

● Relationships are cultivated and valued.

● Open, ongoing, and varied types of school-tohome/ home-to-school communication are

present.

● Communication of expectations is clearly

defined.

● Parents are involved with site-based management team.

● Community resources are recommended and

made available.

● Education opportunities regarding child

development are available.

Community

● Innovative vehicles exist for real involvement

within schools.

● Relationships are cultivated and valued.

● Community is involved with Site-Based

Management Team.

● Mentoring/tutoring opportunities are provided

for community members.

● Reciprocal work-to-school training opportunities are encouraged.

● Focus groups are held to educate public about

schools.

Institutes of Higher Education

● Undergraduate observations focus on both

classroom experiences and school governance

groups as well as parent/community involvement activities.

● Students secure outstanding, site-based

internships early in undergraduate experience.

29
● Institutes offer personnel to conduct on-site

training in return for schools’ release of staff to

share school-based experiences and insights.

● Institutes emphasize leadership as an appropriate and necessary role for teachers.

V. Transition to Ready Schools

Transition to Ready Schools is about children and their

families moving from home, preschools, or other types

of childcare programs into the educational system. Transition is a major milestone for all involved and a change

that offers both challenges and new opportunities

for growth.

Ready Schools employ transition practices that operate

throughout the year and involve an exchange of information and experiences that create as much continuity

as possible for children moving from one setting to another. Transition planning ensures that the special needs

of children and families are addressed and helps minimize later problems.

Communitywide planning for transition to kindergarten

works best and involves children, parents, guardians,

grandparents, other family members, care providers,

preschool and kindergarten teachers, and a variety of

community service agencies and programs. The Ready

School takes into account the complex ways in which

these parties interact to influence the developing child

and provides continuity and reinforcement in a developmentally appropriate manner.

Successful transition to school is currently undergoing

careful scrutiny and discussion. Lack of research on effective transition procedures, the limitations of present

policies, and concern over the type of school environment that awaits the child reflect the gaps and overlaps

in the knowledge base about transition to kindergarten.

At the same time, an available, somewhat broad perspective reveals the following trends that need to be carefully considered in transition planning:

✐ The changing nature of transition and the complex interaction of contextual factors

✐ The emerging conceptual base that integrates

knowledge of how children learn and develop

with best practices in early education

✐ The increasing diversity of families in America

and the younger age school population group

✐ The increase in public school programs for very

young children (ages three and four)

✐ The movement for accountability across the

nation as both readiness and outcomes are

assessed

These emerging trends are particularly important in understanding how children are affected by transitions.

To summarize the findings, transition periods are those

in which the child’s development is reorganized and new

competencies emerge. Transitions occur in an ecological context and are important for later competencies. It

is believed that adjustment in the early school years is

highly related to adjustment and experience from infancy

through the preschool years. Ready Schools direct serious attention to the many factors influencing the transition process. There is greater coordination and information sharing with all “players” as they work to make

schools ready for all children who attend.

Elements of Effective Transitions Include

the Following:*

✐ All parties responsible for children’s care and education work collaboratively in developing a written

transition plan for the community.

✐ Transition activities are planned cooperatively for

children by their families, care providers, teachers,

and community representatives.

✐ Transition policies, programs, and practices reflect

the diversity and uniqueness of children, their families, and the community.

✐ Developmentally appropriate practices (age appropriateness and individual appropriateness) are employed in all programs of care and education from

birth to age eight to ensure continuity in assessment,

curriculum, and instruction.

✐ A coordinated staff development approach is employed to bring care providers and preschool and kindergarten teachers together to discuss, learn, and plan.

✐ Parents and families are involved in decision making and are active partners in their children’s care

and education.

✐ A written community transition agreement is created, evaluated, reviewed, and revised as ongoing

transition efforts are expanded.

✐ Ongoing leadership and advocacy for effective transition are ensured by naming Transition Coordinators, representatives of each participating program/

group, to work together over time to guide and refine the community’s transition plan.

* Adapted from It’s a Big Step (1995), Bridging Early Services

Transition Taskforce, Coordinating Council on Early Childhood

Developmental Services, Kansas State Board of Education

VI. Summary

What Is Best for Kids?

This report has focused on the major themes and directions Ready Schools must take to facilitate the success

of all children entering kindergarten. There is a shared

belief that it takes parents, families, teachers, schools,

and communities to help children experience success in

school. There is a focus on the continuity between early

care and education programs and elementary schools.

Ready Schools assume a strong leadership role to

create developmentally appropriate learning climates for

young children from preschool to grade three.

30
Finally, Ready Schools celebrate each initiative and undertaking with a flourish that invites participation from

all contexts and levels of context that influence children’s

development. Celebrating the influence of each context

is as follows:

Celebrating Parents as the Child’s First and Most

Important Teacher

● Honoring families’ linguistic and cultural characteristics

● Developing opportunities with parents to share

two-way information about the child

● Valuing and encouraging beneficial home-school

partnerships

Celebrating Teachers Who Employ Best Practices

● Recognizing a teacher, class, or school for doing a

good job

● Offering grants for “Ready to Succeed” schools

(to supplement regular funding)

● Creating child/teacher celebrations

● Creating community celebrations

Celebrating Administrators and Site-Based Management Teams

● Recognizing elementary school professionals who

support Ready Schools

● Recognizing Superintendents who support Ready

Schools

VII. Recommendations for “Ready Schools”

The community members of Ready Schools believe that

children come to school with a variety of skills and abilities.

In order to meet children’s diverse needs, Ready Schools

respond to this uniqueness by initially assessing children’s

experiential base and then providing an individualized, developmentally appropriate curriculum with age- and stageappropriate teaching practices. Quality kindergarten experiences profoundly influence later achievement and attainment

as basic skills are acquired and children’s strengths are nurtured. Early learning experiences serve as the foundation for

later learning (Zill, 1988).

In order for schools to be ready to receive all children, the

Schools’ Readiness Committee recommends the following:

✐ The Ready School Self-Inventory be disseminated

to all elementary schools with accompanying staff

development activities to ensure every school in

North Carolina is aware of the policies and practices necessary for schools to successfully serve all

children entering kindergarten.

✐ Schools and communities develop transition plans

to ensure a coordinated effort to support children moving from the early childhood setting to kindergarten.

✐ North Carolina Department of Public Instruction,

public and private school systems, Head Start, and

preschool programs work together to ensure that the

following personnel and environmental resources are

in place to support ready schools.

● Personnel resources include reasonable class

size and student-teacher ratios; sufficient time

for teachers to plan, conference with families,

conduct home visits and reflect on best practices; ongoing teacher professional and personal

development; and Birth-Kindergarten (B-K)

License requirement for kindergarten teachers.

● Environmental resources include individualized

developmentally appropriate curriculum and

classroom activities; financial appropriations for

manipulatives, books, and other learning materials; and reasonable classroom space with an

in-class sink and child’s toilet. In addition, an

outdoor playground/learning area designed for

typically and atypically developing children

should be included.

✐ NC DPI continues to refine the K-2 assessment process, both vertically (by adding earlier developmental pieces) and horizontally (by adding parameters

embracing our social and emotional domains). This

assessment must be used to inform practice and drive

curriculum instruction in North Carolina’s kindergartens.

Rationale for Recommendations

Reasonable Class Size and Teacher-to-Student Ratios:

American kindergarten students vary in both the skills

and knowledge they bring to school. Variations in developmental levels of kindergarten children run the

gamut. Schools must maintain teacher-student ratios that

ensure all teachers provide quality experiences for the

diverse needs of children. Guidelines put forth by the

National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) recommend a class size of a maximum

of 20 students (this class size mandates two classroom

teachers: one B-K Licensed Teacher and one Teacher

Assistant). This recommended ratio ensures the possibility of conducting a diverse set of learning activities

with an emphasis on informal work and play; activities

related to the child’s direct, first-hand experience; opportunity to apply skills in meaningful contexts; and a

wide variety of teaching methods.

Sufficient Time for Teachers to Plan, Conference, Home

Visit, and Reflect on Best Practices: Teachers must understand the uniqueness of each student with regard to

individual learning styles, interests and preferences, personality and temperament, skills and talents, challenges

and difficulties. To gain and apply this knowledge requires enough time for the teacher to plan so all

children participate to the fullest extent possible. Opportunity to conference with parents (both at school and

31
in the student’s home) offers teachers a clearer understanding of each child’s experiential base, skills,

strengths, and vulnerabilities. This understanding will

enable teachers to develop a curriculum focusing on the

“whole” child. Educators who reflect on this knowledge

as they plan offer a flexible curriculum suitable for a

wide variety of young children from various backgrounds. They address varying maturity levels and are

better able to meet diverse needs.

Ongoing Teacher Professional and Personal Development: Teachers must understand the process of learning, for themselves as well as for children. Kindergarten teachers must possess knowledge of growth and development of both typically and atypically developing

children. Moreover, they must be able to translate that

knowledge into developmentally appropriate practices.

Teachers must also use assessment information (including K-2 assessment) to inform practice and drive curriculum and instruction. Members of the school community—administrators, physical education specialists,

teachers of music, art, technology, media, and others

should be offered opportunities to gain current information about young children’s growth and development.

Professional development must include, but not be limited to, ongoing, planned staff development involving

current early childhood related research, child growth

and development information; interactive, multidisciplinary instructional strategies and more; attendance at

statewide and national early childhood conferences; and

membership in professional organizations like the National Association for the Education of Young Children.

Birth–Kindergarten (B-K) License Required for Kindergarten Teachers: Properly certified kindergarten teachers possess an in-depth understanding of the varied patterns of child growth and development. Early educators

must be schooled in and encouraged to use a wide variety of developmentally appropriate curricula, materials,

and procedures to maximize each child’s growth and

development (Position Statement on Goal One of

America 2000, 1996).

Individualized, Developmentally Appropriate Curriculum and Classroom Activities: Learning centers provide

a varied approach for children to develop skills and concepts in learning. Students’ ability to choose materials

and activities provides stability and order to the classroom. At the kindergarten level, learning centers

provide for rigorous exploration and experimentation

with many materials and ideas. Centers also give children of varying abilities and needs opportunities to expand their understanding and knowledge. Play is the

work of young children and the essence of young

children’s understanding. Supported by the facilitation

of a qualified early childhood teacher, work and play

activities form major environmental components that

enhance children’s learning.

Financial Appropriations for Manipulatives, Books and

other Learning Materials; Consumable Materials; and

Capital Equipment: The essence of an excellent kindergarten environment embraces a developmentally appropriate, integrated curriculum with a variety of activities

offered in a meaningful manner. Materials are “handson,” interactive, and open-ended. For example,

manipulatives are critical to children as they can be used

individually or in small groups; prior experience with

the manipulatives increases the potential for innovation,

problem-solving, strengthening fine motor/hand-eye coordination skills, and creative thinking. Consumable

materials, such as paint and large paper, offer opportunities for self-expression, creative problem solving, and

midline development. Tables and chairs, water and sand

tables, easels, storage cabinets and shelves, blocks, and

other equipment are child-sized, in excellent repair, and

physically support a developmental environment. All

these materials are critical to Ready Schools, yet require

a significant initial investment with ongoing budget appropriations for consumable and replacement materials.

Reasonable Class Space with an In-Class Sink and

Child’s Toilet: Kindergarten classes must be large, physically safe, well ventilated with plenty of natural light,

and pleasant in appearance. In-class sinks allow easy

cleaning up and encourage good hygiene; in-class toilets promote self-help skills and encourage independence

in meeting children’s toileting needs.

Outdoor Playground/Learning Area: The education of

young children extends beyond the classroom. Outdoor

playground/learning areas are important to support and

expand children’s understanding of their world. The playground/learning area should be designed for the whole

child and to enhance children’s physical, language, cognitive, and social-emotional development. Outdoor learning centers should include opportunities for cooperative

play, art and science activities, nature studies, fine and

gross motor development, water and sand play, and space

for children to move freely. It is important to choose

quality outdoor equipment and material and to design

and organize the area to accompany the classroom.

Ready School Inventory

The Ready Schools’ subcommittee developed a questionnaire to help schools determine their level of readiness to

receive all children. This self-inventory was designed to highlight crucial components of high-quality and developmentally appropriate kindergarten programs. The Inventory,

included in Appendix I of this report, is designed for schools to

use as part of a self-assessment process. A team including the

principal, kindergarten teachers, parents, and other personnel

involved with children’s transition to kindergarten should work

together to complete the inventory and develop strategies to

ensure that the school is prepared to receive all children.

32
REFERENCES

Bredekamp, S. ed. Developmentally Appropriate Practice in

Early Childhood Programs, revised ed. Washington:

National Association for the Education of Young

Children, 1997.

Bredekamp. S. and T. Rosegrant, eds. Reaching Potentials: Transforming Early Childhood Curriculum and

Assessment. Washington: National Association for the

Education of Young Children, 1995.

Bruner, J. S. Towards a Theory of Instruction. Cambridge:

Harvard U. P., 1966.

Charlesworth, R. “‘Behind’ Before They Start.” Young

Children 44 (1989): 5-13.

Crosser, S. “Managing the Early Childhood Classroom.”

Young Children 47 (1992): 23-29.

Early Development. UNC at Chapel Hill: Frank Porter

Graham Child Development Center. Vol. 3, No. 1.

Winter 1999.

Edson, A. “Crossing the Great Divide: The Nursery

School Child Goes to Kindergarten.” Young Children

49 (1994): 69-75.

Edwards, C., L. Gandini, and G. Forman. The Hundred

Languages of Children: The Reggio Emilia Approach

to Early Childhood Education. Norwood: Ablex

Publishing Corporation, 1993.

Goffin, S. C., and D. A. Stegelin. Changing Kindergartens. Washington: NAEYC, 1995.

Granucci, P. L. “Kindergarten Teachers: Working through

Our Identity Crisis.” Young Children 45 (1990): 6-11.

Gronlund, G. “Bringing the DAP Message to Kindergarten

and Primary Teachers.” Young Children 50 (1995): 4-13.

Harms, T., R. Clifford, and D. Cryer. The Early Childhood

Environmental Rating Scale, revised edition. New

York: Teacher’s College Press, 1998.

Hendrick, J. First Steps toward Teaching the Reggio Way.

Saddle River: Merrill, 1997.

Hill, P. S. “The Function of Kindergarten.” Young Children

42 (1987): 12-19.

Humphey, S. “Becoming a Better Kindergarten Teacher.”

Young Children 45 (1989): 16-21.

Kamii, C. “Achievement Testing in the Early Grades: The

Games Grown-ups Play.” (1989).

—-. “Leading Primary Education toward Excellence.”

Young Children 40 (1985): 3-9.

Kansas State Board of Education. “It’s a Big Step.” (1995).

Katz, L. G. “Another Look at What Young Children

Should Be Learning.” ERIC Digest.

—-. “Readiness: Children and Schools.” ERIC Digest.

National Association for the Education of Young Children

Position Statement on School Readiness. Washington:

NAEYC, 1995.

Nebraska Department of Educaton, Iowa Department of

Education, Iowa Area Education Agencies, and Head

Start—State Collaborative Project. The Primary

Program: Growing and Learning in the Heartland.

Lincoln: Nebraska Department of Education, 1993.

North Carolina State Department of Public Instruction.

Teacher Performance Appraisal Instrument for Early

Educators. North Carolina B-K Higher Education

Consortium, 1997.

Peck, J. T., G. McCaig, and M. E. Sapp. Kindergarten

Policies: What is Best for Children. Washington:

National Association for the Education of Young

Children, 1988.

Pianta, R. C. and M. J. Cox. The Transition to Kindergarten. Baltimore: Paul H. Brooks, 1999.

Rosenkoetter, S. It’s a Big Step. Kansas State Board of

Education, 1995.

Shore, R. Ready Schools. Washington: Goal 1 Ready Schools

Resource Group, National Education Goals Panel,

1998.

Zill, N. and C. C. Rogers. Recent Trends in the Well-being

of Children in the United States and their Implications

for Public Policy. Washington: Urban Institute Press, 1988.

33
APPENDIX I

Ready Schools Self-Inventory

Schools must be ready to receive all children in order for children to succeed. “Ready schools” will assess their degree of

readiness in a variety of ways. This self-inventory was designed to highlight crucial components of high-quality and developmentally appropriate kindergarten programs. Items reflect concrete policies and strategies that schools can employ to help

each child grow in competence and meet high expectations.

A team including the principal, kindergarten teachers, parents, and other personnel involved with children’s transition to kindergarten should work together to complete the following inventory and develop strategies to ensure that

the school is prepared to receive all children. Use the comments column to make notes about each individual item and the

space at the end of the Inventory to document a Ready Schools Improvement Plan.

Administrators have read, processed, and understood

NAEYC’s Developmentally Appropriate Practices.

Teachers have read, processed, and understood NAEYC’s

Developmentally Appropriate Practices.

Parents have been offered information (via workshops,

NAEYC brochures, and other reading materials) about

child development and best practices for kindergarten

children.

Parents are valued as genuine (authentic) partners with ongoing communications (weekly newsletters or audio-taped

information, home visits, volunteering opportunities,

parent-teacher and/or student-led conferences).

School offers a parent resource library and a place for families to gather, network, reflect, and share discussions with

others.

School uses developmentally appropriate assessment instruments that

● Assess early life experience

● Recognize and support individual differences

● Determine reasonable/appropriate expectations of children’s capabilities

● Attend to the WHOLE child and seek information about all five readiness domains

Teachers assess each child’s growth and development authentically via collected work samples, student and parent

interviews, teacher observations, photographs, etc.

Physical environment is welcoming and child-centered.

Physical environment is arranged in learning centers encouraging choices, problem-solving, and discovery in the

learning process.

Curriculum provides meaningful contexts for the children’s

learning (rather than focusing on isolated skill acquisition).

Curriculum offers learning centers, values “play” as the

work of young children, and provides interrelated, handson, active learning experiences.

INDICATOR FOR A READY SCHOOL READY NOT COMMENTS

READY

34
Curriculum contains goals addressing all five domains of

learning and is based on the interests and needs of individual children.

Curriculum integrates new learning with past experiences

through project work and mixed-ability/mixed-age grouping in an unhurried setting.

Teacher uses a wide variety of teaching materials

and methods.

Schedule balances open-ended and structured time.

Schedule includes daily rituals and routines.

Cultural and linguistic diversity of students is nurtured and

celebrated.

Multicultural materials reflect global heritage and culture.

Language and communication development is a rich and

valued curriculum component.

Children’s social skills are developed with conflict resolution strategies taught in meaningful contexts.

Inclusion is practiced, and each child is placed in the least

restrictive environment.

Students are well fed, rested, and immunized; on-site health

assessments for physical, vision, and dental health are conducted annually.

Teachers participate in research-based, state-of-the-art,

developmentally appropriate, ongoing professional

development.

35
36

 Our school’s top three areas needing improvement to enable us to be ready for all children are

TOP THREE PRIORITIES PLANS FOR IMPROVEMENT
37

APPENDIX J

Ready for School (R4S)

Framework

Preamble of Beliefs and Guidelines

Definition of Ready for School

Condition of Children

✐ Health and Physical Development

✐ Social and Emotional Development

✐ Approaches Toward Learning

✐ Language Development and

Communication

✐ Cognition and General Knowledge

Capacity of Schools

✐ Teachers

✐ Curriculum and Instruction

✐ School Environments

✐ Administrators

✐ Families and Communities

Schools Ready for Children

Ready Schools

R4S System Accountability

Ready Kids

FACES

Plus:

Sampling

Recommended

Screening:

Recommendations on

best instruments

Standards for

and Assessment

of Ready Schools

K-2

Assessment

Plus

N C W I S E D A T A S Y S T E M

Goals

✐ Assess the readiness of all children for school

✐ Increase the readiness of all children for school

✐ Improve the readiness of schools for all children

Alignment to Definition ~ Uniformity ~ Consistency ~ Data for Improvement
38

SERVE is an education organization with the mission to promote and support the continuous improvement of educational

opportunities for all learners in the Southeast. To further this mission, SERVE engages in research and development addressing

education issues of critical importance to educators in the region and provides technical assistance to SEAs and LEAs that are

striving for comprehensive school improvement. This critical research-to-practice linkage is supported by an experienced staff

strategically located throughout the region. This staff is highly skilled in providing needs assessment services, conducting

applied research in schools, and developing processes, products, and programs that inform educators and increase student

achievement.

The content of this publication does not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the Office of Educational Research and

Improvement, U.S. Department of Education, nor does mention of trade names, commercial products, or organizations imply

endorsement by the U.S. Government. This document was produced with funding from the Office of Educational Research and

Improvement, U.S. Department of Education, under contract no. RJ96006701.

Edited by

Charles Ahearn, Ed.D.

Director of Communications and

Publications

Donna Nalley, Ph.D.

Senior Editor

Corinda Marsh, Ph.D.

Senior Program Specialist

Designed by

Milan Gavrilovic

Graphic Designer

Associated with the

School of Education

University of North Carolina

at Greensboro
5,000 copies of this document were printed at government expense at a cost of $.69 each.

For further information, contact:

Judy White

Executive Director

North Carolina Office of Education Reform

(919) 715-1268

Phillip J. Kirk, Jr.

Chairman

Raleigh

Jane P. Norwood

Vice Chair

Charlotte

Kathy A. Taft

Greenville

Margaret B. Harvey

Kinston

Edgar D. Murphy

Durham

Evelyn B. Monroe

Pinehurst

Maria T. Palmer

Chapel Hill

North Carolina

State Board of Education

Michael E. Ward

State Superintendent

North Carolina Department of

Public Instruction

State

Superintendent

Ronald E. Deal

Hickory

Robert R. Douglas

Asheville

Zoe W. Locklear

Pembroke

Eddie Davis, III

Durham

Dennis A. Wicker

Lieutenant Governor

Sanford

Harlan E. Boyles

State Treasurer

Raleigh