BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Senator Carol Liu, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular
Bill No: SCR 125
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|Author: | Allen |
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|Version: | March 31, 2016 Hearing |
| |Date: April 20, 2016 |
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|Urgency: | No |Fiscal: |No |
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|Consultant:| Olgalilia Ramirez |
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Subject: Kindergarten readiness assessment tool
SUMMARY
This resolution resolves that the Legislature will work towards
the adoption of a statewide, developmentally appropriate
kindergarten readiness assessment tool.
BACKGROUND
Existing law requires:
1) The State Department of Education to develop
prekindergarten learning development guidelines in
accordance with specified criteria, and requires the
guidelines for focus on preparing four and five-year old
children for kindergarten. (Education Code § 8203.3)
2) The Superintendent of Public Instruction to ensure that all
contracts for child care and development programs include a
requirement that each public or private provider maintain a
developmental profile to appropriately identify the
emotional, social, physical, and cognitive growth of each
child in order to promote the child's success in the public
schools. (EC § 8203.3)
3) A state-funded preschool or infant/toddler program, when a
child will be transferring to a local public school, to
provide the parent with information from the previous year
deemed beneficial to the student and the public school
SCR 125 (Allen) Page 2
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teacher, including development issues, social interaction
abilities, health background, and diagnostic assessment.
(EC § 8282)
ANALYSIS
This resolution resolves 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.
Specifically, this resolution:
1) States that:
a) Children entering kindergarten who have the
physical and motor
development, social and emotional skills, language
development and
cognitive development to be active and engaged
learners are more likely to meet expectations of
California state standards by grade 3.
b) Readiness assessments are a multidimensional
measure of a child's
developing abilities upon entering transitional
kindergarten and kindergarten.
c) A kindergarten readiness assessment should
measure the range of
developmental domains, including language, problem
solving, self-regulation, interpersonal skills, fine
and gross motor skills, and disposition towards
learning.
d) Without 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.
e) Federal leaders are increasingly seeking to
invest in states that are gather
and use comprehensive data to build and drive their
early childhood systems.
SCR 125 (Allen) Page 3
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f) A statewide kindergarten readiness tool will
ensure consistent assessment
to of readiness through the state and will provide
critical data to guide planning and resource
allocation.
2) Resolves 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.
STAFF COMMENTS
1) Need for the bill. According to the author, "Schools that
coordinate between preschool and kindergarten and provide
transitional kindergarten help kids build the skills needed
to learn, thrive and succeed. Kindergarten readiness tools
help coordinate the transition from preschool. Currently,
however, California isn't one of the 29 states consistently
collecting readiness data. When California schools do
assess the readiness of kindergartners, they rarely capture
information on social-emotional development. This is
problematic because research shows the connection between
social-emotional readiness and long-term success.
California must work to improve its preschool and
transitional kindergarten, and increase kindergarten
readiness so all students get a strong start."
2) Existing school readiness assessment tool. The California
Department of Education developed the Desired Results
Developmental Profile (DRDP) as a formative assessment
instrument to be used to inform instruction and program
development. The DRDP is used in state subsidized child
care and preschool settings as an observation tool; it is
not a test. Arguably, the DRDP measures the developmental
progress of individual children or students at a given
point in time, but is not necessarily a tool for
determining whether or not a child is ready to enter
kindergarten. This resolution seeks the adoption of a
statewide,
developmentally appropriate kindergarten readiness
assessment tool to assess the readiness of children
entering transitional kindergarten and kindergarten.
SCR 125 (Allen) Page 4
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3) Related legislation. AB 2410 (Bonta) requires the
California Department of Education (CDE) to develop
prekindergarten learning development guidelines that focus
on preparing four- and five-year-old children for
kindergarten, establishes the California Committee for
Kindergarten Readiness, and requires that committee to
submit to the State Board of Education a kindergarten
readiness definition that has clear benchmarks for skills
that are predictive of later success in academics and
social-emotional and executive functioning skills as
evidenced by current research. AB 2410 is scheduled to be
heard in the Assembly Education Committee on April 20.
4) Prior legislation. AB 2553 (Brownley, 2010) established
guidelines for the development of a voluntary statewide
kindergarten readiness data collection tool or tools. AB
2553 was held in the Assembly Appropriations Committee.
SUPPORT
Abriendo Puertas/Opening Doors
Children Now
Early Edge California
First 5 Association of California
OPPOSITION
None received.
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