Kindergarten

A strong academic foundation is essential to individual student success. When a student enters first grade without basic literacy skills, he/she is unable to function effectively. This learning deficit often continues to increase over time.

To ensure that all students have a strong academic foundation right from the start, many school districts conduct Kindergarten Exit Assessments (KEAs). When implemented as part of a comprehensive program of Scientific Reading Instruction, this can help teachers and administrators review each individual student’s readiness for first grade.

A KEA program usually has at least three components: an overview, a practice test (or exemplar), and the final assessment itself. Here are descriptions of each, plus links to samples of what one district in the state has done.

Overview: The overview explains the rationale and purpose of the program. It also describes the components of the assessment, and gives details about any supplemental parts of the program.

Exemplar: This document is given to teachers so they can see what the KEA is like. (Same layout, same kinds of questions … just different answers.) It can also be used to periodically monitor student progress, since it mimics the actual test, but has different content. (Note: This sample contains both Teacher and Student pages.)

Screener: This is the actual assessment given at the end of the year. For test security reasons, teachers should never see this assessment, and it must be administered by someone other than a Kindergarten teacher. (Note: This sample contains both Teacher and Student pages.)