School Readiness Assessment

Definition of School Readiness

In Colorado, school readiness describes both the preparedness of a child to engage in and benefit from learning experiences, and the ability of a school to meet the needs of all students enrolled in publicly funded kindergarten. School readiness is enhanced when schools, families, and community service providers work collaboratively to ensure that every child is ready for higher levels of learning in academic content. Adopted by the State Board of Education, 2023.

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Child Ready

School Ready

Preparedness of the Child

The preparedness of the child to engage in and benefit from learning experiences is measured through growth across domains of learning and development and toward end-of-year expectations at each age and grade. The required domains of learning and development to asses are:

physical well-being and motor development,
social and emotional development,
language and comprehension development,
cognition,
literacy, and
math.

The current Kindergarten School Readiness Colorado State Board of Education Approved List of Assessments overviews each state board-approved assessment tool. Additionally, districts may choose to assess additional domains or items of learning and development. Each domain is further defined below.

Learning and Development:

Domain	Domain description	Required as part of the school readiness assessment	Colorado Academic Standards (Pk-12)	Early Learning Development Guidelines (Birth-8)
Physical Well-being and Motor Development	A child's ability to use small and large muscles to engage in learning activities and to meet his/her own needs.	Yes	Physical education	Physical development & health
Social and Emotional Development	A child's ability to follow limits, persist with learning tasks, make friends, and take care of his or her own needs.	Yes	Comprehensive health	Social & emotional development
Language and Comprehension Development*	A child's ability to listen and understand, to express his/her thoughts and needs and to engage in appropriate conversations.	Yes	Reading, writing, and communication	Language development
English Language Development	A child's ability to listen, understand, and communicate in English.	No	Colorado English language proficiency	English language development
Cognition	Executive function skills and approaches to learning, including a child's ability to persist, to solve problems, engage, and organize information.	Yes	Colorado essential skills	Logic & reasoning and Approaches to learning

Academic Content:

Domain	Domain description	Required as part of the school readiness assessment	Colorado Academic Standards (Pk-12)	Early Learning Development Guidelines (Birth-8)
Literacy	Foundational reading skills, writing, comprehension, and engagement in literacy.	Yes	Reading, writing, and communication	Literacy knowledge and skills
Mathematics	Early numeracy skills including number, quantity, and mathematical thinking.	Yes	Mathematics	Mathematics knowledge and skills
Science	A child's ability to observe, understand, and ask questions about the natural and physical world.	No	Science	Science knowledge and skills
Social Studies	A child's knowledge of people, society, and events and how these individually and collectively affect and relate to him/her/them.	No	Social Studies	Social studies knowledge and skills

The Arts:

Domain	Domain description	Required as part of the school readiness assessment	Colorado Academic Standards (Pk-12)	Early Learning Development Guidelines (Birth-8)
Music	A child's expression, creation, and engagement in music.	No	Music	Creative arts expression
Dance	A child's ability to observe and compose creative movement.	No	Dance	Creative arts expression
Visual	A child's ability to observe and critique, relate to, and create visual arts.	No	Visual arts	Creative arts expression
Drama and Theatre	A child's ability to create, perform, and understand the dramatic arts.	No	Drama and theatre arts	Creative arts expression

Flexibility in Assessing Literacy

The following flexibilities are provided (C.R.S.22-7-1014 (2)(a)):

If an interim reading assessment pursuant to C.R.S. 22-7-1205 (1)(a.5)) is administered within the first sixty days of the school year, the district is not required to administer the literacy component of the school readiness assessments.

Ability of a School to Meet the Needs of All Students

Using data from the KSR and other early elementary assessments in a standards-aligned assessment system, schools and districts can identify and address data trends within and across student data over time. These data sources can

inform decisions on instructional materials, teacher support, and resource allocation within schools and partnerships outside of schools. This may include partnerships with tutors and out-of-school time providers to create schools that are ready to meet each child's needs in kindergarten.
inform goals and partnerships with school-based and community preschool providers, early childhood programs, and other agencies within the community to systematically elevate the preparedness of the child to engage in kindergarten and beyond, and
inform policy decisions and state-level partnerships to further the preparedness of every child and every school.

The ability of a school to meet the needs of each student can be strengthened by continually assessing early learning needs throughout the district or community and addressing those needs through data-based decisions that increase the ability to meet the needs of students and their families each year. Assessment of early learning needs within a community may include

partnerships and collaboration within the community
access to quality programming throughout early childhood and elementary
the number and quality of transition practices between grades and into kindergarten
continuity of learning from preschool through elementary

Each of these is reflected in the school readiness definition in Colorado and furthers its mission to create schools that are prepared to meet the needs of each child in collaboration with the community so all children are ready to engage in school.