Using only a cut off date to determine eligibility is problematic because at age five, children vary significantly in their individual physical, cognitive, social, and emotional development, largely due to the various environments they have experienced. Data collected from interviews with 71 early childhood specialists from State Departments of Education between October 1999 and January 2000 found that age of eligibility was the only formal statewide requirement used in determining readiness in more than half of the states studied. The findings from these interviews suggest that states should partner with local school districts to increase efforts around implementing assessment strategies and determine how the assessment data should be used by policy makers and educators. For instance, assessment data can be useful for determining child developmental outcomes - the extent to which early childhood services affect children's developmental levels leading up to school entry. In addition, the study suggests that evaluators follow state policies and initiatives by local school districts over time in order to determine whether these policies are effective.
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