FeaturedProject

First 5 Monterey County

First 5 Monterey County Kindergarten Readiness Assessment

First 5 Monterey County (F5MC) supports community partnerships and programs that enhance the lives of children ages 0-5 and their families. Recognizing the importance of early childhood in creating a foundation for the educational success of young children, F5MC has made significant investments in local school readiness programs in Monterey County. Defined broadly, school readiness encompasses children’s developmental competencies, the preparedness of schools to engage young children, and family and community supports that contribute to children’s readiness to enter school. As a means of tracking county-level school readiness trends, F5MC also regularly monitors school readiness indicators throughout the county’s four regions (North, South, Salinas and Peninsula) and for all levels of school performance on the Academic Performance Index.

Services

Evaluation

Need

In 2006, F5MC contracted with Harder+Company to expand the scope of the previous Kindergarten Readiness Assessment (KRA) that had been conducted in 2004. The KRA is an assessment designed to provide a snapshot of kindergarteners’ readiness to enter school. It highlights characteristics and factors associated with increased school readiness among children, and it gathers information about what parents, kindergarten teachers and school principals are doing to support and prepare young children for school. Over time, KRA data can be used to understand whether improvement in child developmental competencies can be detected at the county level.

What We Did

F5MC’s 2004 KRA had been limited to 14 schools in Monterey County that had received a low API ranking. Harder+Company expanded the 2006 KRA design to obtain a representative sample of incoming kindergarteners countywide. Our evaluation team used four assessment tools, based on the National Education Goals Panel’s definition of school readiness, to gather information from a statistically representative sample of incoming kindergarteners. The four methods used were the teacher-completed child observation checklist, a family survey, a teacher survey, and a school site principal interview.

Harder+Company met regularly with F5MC staff and its Evaluation Advisory Committee to ensure the appropriateness of the design, the data collection tools, the sample, and the strategies to engage with school districts. We then contacted district officials and school administrators to obtain their voluntary participation in the KRA. From there, we created and organized a supportive process for training Kindergarten teachers, who were tasked with completing the child observation checklist and distributing and collecting the family surveys. This effort required the evaluation team to establish effective working relationships with more than 25 elementary schools throughout the county.

Results

Our report, “Are Children in Monterey County Ready for School?” was released in April 2007. Because of our successful efforts in collaboration with First 5 Monterey County, parents, elementary schools, and school districts, the 2006 KRA included data on 1,518 children, 1,347 families, 74 kindergarten teachers, and 12 principals from 26 elementary schools.

Using the data collected, Harder+Company was able to profile the kindergarten population in Monterey County and determine how prepared children in Monterey County are for school by identifying what key factors are associated with school readiness; how ready schools are in Monterey County for incoming kindergarteners; and what families are doing to support school readiness. The 2006 KRA represented the largest assessment of kindergarten readiness in the county, providing a unique opportunity to continue to collect and track these data over time.

Staff

For more information on Harder + Company, please contact us at 415-522-5400.