News Brief

02/19/13

Federal Grant Prospect Reignites Kindergarten-Assessment Debate

Education Week (02/19/13) Samuels, Christina A.The U.S. Department of Education (DOE) plans to award $9.2 million in grants through its readiness-to-learn initiative, with the money intended to help states create kindergarten-entry assessments. The DOE is focused on kindergarten-entry assessments that measure "children's learning and development across all the essential domains," meaning academic readiness, social skills, physical health, and emotional well-being. The standards should align with academic standards for later grades and assist teachers in informing parents about what skills their children have achieved or need to hone. While some experts question the need for a new grant competition when the 14 states sharing $633 million as part of the Race to the Top Early Learning Challenge are working on school-entry assessments for young children, others view it as a potential new source of funds for those states.
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