Senate Concurrent Resolution No. 125

Introduced by Senator Allen

March 31, 2016

Senate Concurrent Resolution No. 125—Relative to kindergarten readiness assessment.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

SCR 125, as introduced, Allen. Kindergarten readiness assessment tool.

This measure would state that the Legislature will work towards the adoption of a statewide, developmentally appropriate kindergarten readiness assessment tool to assess the readiness of children entering transitional kindergarten and kindergarten.

Fiscal committee: no.

WHEREAS, Children are natural learners and begin learning
the day they are born. Significant brain development occurs in the
earliest years. In fact, the vast majority of brain development occurs
by five years of age; and

WHEREAS, District, state, and community-level data on
readiness gaps would help policymakers and community leaders
to target and implement effective early learning programs, as well
as reinforce ongoing efforts to establish a robust, accessible system
of early identification and intervention for developmental delays;
and

WHEREAS, Children entering kindergarten who have the
physical and motor development, social and emotional skills,
approaches to learning, language development, and cognitive
development to be active and engaged learners are 10 times more
likely to meet the expectations of California state standards by
grade 3 than those who are less prepared when they start school.
Children reading at grade-level at grade 3 are more likely to
complete high school prepared for college, careers, and civic life;
and

WHEREAS, Readiness assessments are a multidimensional
measure of a child’s developing abilities and skills upon entering
transitional kindergarten and kindergarten; and

WHEREAS, Every teacher, principal, and school administrator
wants his or her young pupils to thrive as they move through their
transitional kindergarten and kindergarten years and into the early
elementary grades; and

WHEREAS, A kindergarten readiness assessment should not
just measure pupil proficiency on preacademic skills, but should
also measure the range of developmental domains, including
language, problem solving, self regulation, interpersonal skills,
fine and gross motor skills, and disposition towards learning; and

WHEREAS, School readiness assessments provide data that
can be used to improve systems of support for pupils in the
classroom, school, district, region, and state, as well as to ensure
the instruction provided to pupils is the most appropriate based on
their strengths and areas for growth; and

WHEREAS, The California Children and Families Commission
(First 5 California) and First 5 county commissions have been
committed to ensuring children are ready for kindergarten,
including investing in kindergarten readiness assessments, for
many years; and

WHEREAS, In measuring all of these developmental domains,
an age-appropriate kindergarten readiness assessment tool aligned
to California’s state standards would provide valuable information
to parents, teachers, school administrators, and state policymakers
about both the readiness of children and the readiness of early
childhood systems and K-12 educational systems that prepare and
support them; and

WHEREAS, Without the consistent, widespread use of a valid
and reliable readiness assessment tool that measures a child’s
learning and development holistically, the state currently has no
meaningful way to gauge the diverse and changing needs of its
youngest learners; and

WHEREAS, A kindergarten readiness assessment should not
be used for high stakes purposes, such as district, school, or
program accountability, to determine entry into school, or to
determine a pupil’s educational path; and

WHEREAS, Over one-half of the states in the country collect
kindergarten readiness information in a state-level data system,
and federal leaders are increasingly seeking to invest in states that
are gathering and use comprehensive data to build and drive their
early childhood systems; and

WHEREAS, A statewide kindergarten readiness tool will ensure
consistent assessment of readiness throughout the state and will
provide critical data to guide planning and resource allocation;
and

WHEREAS, Successful statewide implementation of a
kindergarten readiness assessment tool will require local and state
resources and support, and will require leadership to build
commitment among local educational and early childhood system
leaders and other key stakeholders across the state; and

WHEREAS, The Legislature must play a leadership role in
establishing a uniform, statewide kindergarten readiness assessment
tool that provides meaningful data so that early childhood system
leaders, teachers, and policymakers can intervene strategically to
promote the success of the next generation; now therefore, be it

Resolved by the Senate of the State of California, the Assembly
thereof concurring, That the Legislature will work towards the
adoption of a statewide kindergarten readiness assessment tool
that is developmentally appropriate to assess the readiness of
children entering transitional kindergarten and kindergarten and
that helps to provide a system that better supports children’s
individual and collective needs; and be it further

Resolved, That the Secretary of the Senate transmit copies of
this resolution to the author for appropriate distribution.