What gets measured gets done. Nothing speaks truer or gets us closer to achieving meaningful results for children.

In my years working to implement education reform as an advocate and public servant (okay, bureaucrat), I’ve had one simple question running through my head like an ongoing news ticker – How can we prevent this?   As the League of Education Voters illustrated in the 2011 Washington Citizens’ Report Card, the data is daunting and the problems feel intractable. For those of you outside Washington state, the data might be a little different but I'll bet you that your issues are similar. This is a national crisis after all. Too many students drop out. The achievement gap is persistent, unconscionable and, in many cases, widening. Too many children are still learning to read at age 8 and beyond. As parents we know that we can do better and we must. We also need to tackle the problems sooner.

Understanding whether or not children are ready to succeed when they walk through the kindergarten door is one of the most difficult questions to answer.  Washington only begins to collect consistent student progress data at the end of 3rd grade.  By the time the state reports this data, the students are buying school supplies for 4th grade. Unfortunately we know this is too late.

That’s where the data piece comes in. For the first time, we have statewide kindergarten assessment information across multiple domains of child development and achievement and a plan for statewide implementation.  It's called Washington Kindergarten Inventory on Developing Skills (WaKIDS) and I'm excited to show you how this data will change our perspective on early learning and education.

First, a little background:

This past year, the Department of Early Learning (DEL) and the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) have partnered together to pilot a kindergarten readiness transition process that allows families, kindergarten teachers and early learning professionals to gather and share information about incoming kindergartners. WaKIDS is up and running throughout the 2010-2011 school year in 115 classrooms around the state, with approximately 2,600 kindergartners. Click to see the report from DEL and OSPI about how the pilot was designed and implemented, and recommendations for next steps.

WaKIDS is very unique. In fact, it is the only kindergarten transition process across the country to include three fundamental components that:

1. Empower the family by having a teacher-family meeting where they discuss items such as the language spoken in the home, family traditions, and a child’s likes, dislikes, strengths and weaknesses
2. Understand whole child development with a kindergarten assessment tool that measures across four developmental domains:
   • Social and emotional development
   • Cognition and general knowledge
   • Language, communication and literacy
   • Physical well-being, health and motor development
3. Breaks down the wall between early care and education and kindergarten whereby early learning professionals and teachers meet throughout the year to share information about children and ideas to ease the transition.

Now for some data:

Because this is a pilot, we are testing three different assessment tools: Teaching Strategies GOLD, Pearson Work Sampling System, and CTB/McGraw Hill Developing Skills Checklist. Each teacher is using one tool so we can better understand which tools provide information that best informs instruction and supports student success. The final tool will be selected at the end of the school year.  I have included data from the Teaching Strategies GOLD assessment below. Click here to see the preliminary data report for all assessment tools submitted by University of Washington.

The preliminary results illustrate what many educators and policymakers have believed for years – a dangerously high percentage of children arrive to school unprepared.  More specifically, the data suggests that more than a third of those children participating in WaKIDS enter kindergarten below expected skill levels. In the area of language, communication, and literacy, nearly half of the children enter with skills below the expected grade level. These differences are even more startling for economically disadvantaged children, pointing to the continued need for accessible, high quality early learning programs for low income children and families.

The data below is from the Teaching Strategies GOLD assessment. The kindergarten expectations are skills expected to be attained by children throughout the kindergarten year. Those scary red bars show that most children are below standard three of the four domains (physical, cognitive and language). The percentage of children below standard in the cognitive/general knowledge domain is particularly high at 74%.

Children eligible for free and reduced price lunch (185% of FPL) demonstrated lower than expected skill levels in three of the four domains:

• Social and emotional – a 17% gap
• Cognitive and general knowledge – a 25% gap, and
• Language, communication and literacy – a 24% gap.

We are working hard to secure resources to continue and enhance WaKIDS.  Our plan would expand WaKIDS into schools with full day kindergarten in the highest poverty schools beginning next fall so families, teachers, and the system can use the information to target interventions to children on day one. This proposal would cost approximately $1.5 million during the 11-13 biennium. In any other year this investment would not feel significant, however Washington state is dealing with a $5 billion deficit. One of the highest in the country. My fingers are crossed.

For more information about WaKIDS, visit www.del.wa.gov/wakids

Bonnie Beukema is the Assistant Director for Outcomes and Accountability at the Washington State Department of Early Learning. Prior to this, Bonnie spent five years developing her  wonk + activist skills in education advocacy at the League of Education Voters in Seattle, WA.