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- What is school readiness?
- How is school readiness measured?
- Why does school readiness matter?
- Is your child ready for school?
- How do early learning experiences support readiness?
- What can parents do to help their children be ready for school?
What is school readiness?
School readiness is a child's ability to successfully carry out kindergarten work. For a child to be fully ready for school, he/she needs to have mastered certain abilities in a comprehensive set of areas of development or Domains of Learning:
- Language & Literacy
- Physical Development
- Social Studies
- Scientific Thinking
- Mathematical Thinking
- The Arts
- Social/Personal Development
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How is school readiness measured?
The Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE) uses the Maryland Model for School Readiness (MMSR) Work Sampling System (WSS) (click here to learn more about the MMSR) to measure the readiness level of Maryland’s kindergarteners each year. Every fall, kindergarten teachers throughout the state use the WSS to assess the readiness of their students in seven Domains of Learning:
- Language & Literacy
- Physical Development
- Social Studies
- Scientific Thinking
- Mathematical Thinking
- The Arts
- Social/Personal Development
Students are identified as:
- Fully Ready: The student consistently demonstrates the skills, behaviors, and abilities needed to meet kindergarten expectations.
- Approaching Readiness: The student inconsistently demonstrates the skills, behaviors, and abilities needed to meet kindergarten expectations successfully, and requires targeted instructional support in specific areas.
- Developing Readiness: The student does not demonstrate the skills, behaviors, and abilities needed to meet kindergarten expectations successfully, and requires considerable instructional support in seven areas.
After school systems submit the WSS assessments to MSDE, Ready At Five, with funding from MSDE, analyzes the data to produce our annual Getting Ready series.
Learn more about the MMSR
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Why does school readiness matter?
Children who enter kindergarten with high levels of readiness are more likely to succeed academically throughout their school careers. According to the Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE), there is a strong link between kindergarten readiness and Grade 3 reading scores on the Maryland School Assessment (MSA). In fact, the data show that children who enter kindergarten with full readiness skills in Language & Literacy have a 91% chance of scoring as Proficient or Advanced on the Grade 3 MSA in Reading.
The readiness of Maryland's children also has a powerful impact on our society and economy:
- Economist Arthur Rolnick of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis estimates that an investment in early care and education can earn a 16% financial rate of return.
- Nobel Prize-winning economist James J. Heckman's research shows that effective early care and education decreases the need for Special Education services and remediation, and also reduces juvenile delinquency, teen pregnancy, and dropout rates.
- A Pew Center study by economist Mark Cohen and criminologists Alex Piquero and Wesley Jennings finds that the societal "pay now" costs of supporting healthy prenatal care, sound parental skills, and quality PreK programs are a fraction of the "pay later" price associated with the problems of low birth weight babies, child abuse and neglect, and high school dropouts.
Learn more about investing in the early years.
Is your child ready for school?
A child is "school ready" when he/she is able to successfully complete kindergarten work. Some of the skills and abilities needed to work successfully in kindergarten include:
- Social and Emotional Development: Does she get along with others? Follow rules? Start an activity, work on it, and finish it?
- Physical Development: Does he run, jump, climb, and play ball? Button his shirt? Zip his jacket? Use scissors? Trace? Draw? Use good health and safety skills?
- Language and Literacy: Does she talk and listen to adults and other children? Speak clearly? Understand stories? Show an interest in books? Know some letters and numbers?
- Mathematical Thinking: Does she sort things by color and shape? Can she count?
- Scientific Thinking: Does he explore? Look, listen, touch, smell, and taste to get information? Talk about how things are alike or different?
- Social Studies: Does he talk about himself, his family, and his community? Talk about how people are similar and/or different?
- The Arts: Does she dance? Draw? Paint? Sing? Make music? Play? Make believe?
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How do early learning experiences support readiness?
Nearly 90% of a child's brain growth happens by age five. Neuroscientific research indicates that early experiences have a great effect on the brain's develoment and ability to form and maintain critical connections. Researchers confirm that the way parents and caregivers interact with children and the experiences provided for a young child have a big impact on the child's emotional development, learning abilities, and, ultimately, success in school and in life.
What can parents do to help their children be ready for school?
Parents are their children's first and most important teachers! There are many things parents can do, starting at birth, to help their children be ready to succeed in school. Everything parents do with their children helps them to learn new skills. Everyday moments are learning moments!
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