Title

Kalamazoo County Committee for Early Childhood Education (Ready 4s) Assessment

Project Dates

07/01/2010 -

Description

Kalamazoo County Ready 4s will establish a baseline of kindergarten readiness among Kalamazoo County's entering kindergarten students in fall 2010 by assessing 200 children randomly selected from the public schools in Kalamazoo County. Kalamazoo County Ready 4s will also test the assessment process in fall 2010 with child care/education providers likely to participate in the Kalamazoo County Ready 4s pilot in fall 2011. Researchers will inform the community of the level of school readiness of children entering kindergarten, will convince the funders of the need for increasing children's access to high quality pre-K care/education, and will create a baseline for comparison with kindergarten readiness in coming years. The county-wide assessment will take place periodically. Working with staff from the Greater Kalamazoo United Way and Western Michigan University, Institute staff will analyze results in order to examine the distribution of scores and determine what percentage of children score above or below a "minimum" level or some specified "ideal." The sample will be too small to draw conclusions about specific classrooms, schools or districts, but researchers should be able to draw conclusions about the kindergarten students county-wide. Conclusions may be drawn about eligibility for free/reduced lunch, but several years worth of data may need to be collected before conclusions can be drawn regarding race or other demographic factors.

Sponsorship

none

Subject Area

EDUCATION; Early childhood

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