Page 1 GAO-24-106552 Kindergarten Readiness
The early elementary school years are widely understood to be critical to a child
developing a strong foundation for future academic success. Children arrive at
kindergarten from diverse settings and experiences, and not all of them are
“kindergarten ready.” Kindergarten readiness refers to the skills and abilities
needed to succeed in school, including social and emotional development,
language acquisition, physical well-being, and motor skills.
The Department of Education estimated that about 3.3 million children enrolled in
public kindergarten in fall 2024; however, kindergarten is not universally required.
States determine whether school districts must offer kindergarten and whether
kindergarten attendance is mandatory. States also have discretion regarding
whether, and how, to assess children’s kindergarten readiness. Consequently,
little is known about kindergarten readiness levels nationwide.
We were asked to provide information about which states assess children’s
readiness to learn upon entering kindergarten.
1
For this report, we surveyed state
education and early childhood officials in all 50 states and the District of
Columbia on how they collect and use kindergarten readiness information for
children attending public schools. Throughout this report, we refer to all 51
survey respondents as states. We also held discussion groups with kindergarten
teachers in six states to provide information about their experiences with
administering and using assessments in kindergarten, among other topics.
• According to our survey of all 50 states and the District of Columbia, 27
states reported they required school districts to administer a formal
kindergarten entry assessment (KEA) during the 2023
–2024 school year.
• Of the 22 states that analyzed statewide KEA data, most reported using their
analysis to inform the public (17) or meet state legislative requirements (16).
• In all six discussion groups we held with kindergarten teachers, teachers
talked about how administering assessments during kindergarten is time
consuming and impedes instructional time. All six groups also noted that
assessments administered early in the kindergarten year typically need to be
conducted one-on-one.
• In all six groups, teachers discussed using kindergarten readiness
information to identify students’ skill levels and determine if additional
supports were needed. Four of these groups also expressed concerns about
the relevance of kindergarten readiness information from the state-required
KEA for instruction and whether it provided accurate results for some
students.
U.S. Government Accountability Office
-12 Education: State and Selected Teachers’
Use of Kindergarten Readiness Information
-24-106552
Report to Congressional Requesters
17, 2024
Revised October 23, 2024 to correct the shading of figure 1
on page 2.
