CHICAGO — Since the 2017–18 school year, the Kindergarten Individual Development Survey has been used statewide in Illinois to assess the developmental readiness of children entering kindergarten. These data help educators, families, and policymakers align resources to best support children’s early learning.
New reports from the Illinois Workforce and Education Research Collaborative show that kindergarten readiness in Illinois is improving, but there are concerning disparities across student groups at kindergarten entry that appear to be larger by third grade. Education researchers say that identifying disparities is essential to ensuring equity in educational opportunities and outcomes.
Key findings include:
- Statewide improvements: Participation in KIDS and kindergarten readiness levels have increased from the 2017–18 to 2021–22 school years.
- Stable disparities in kindergarten readiness: While kindergarten readiness improved among all student groups, disparities between groups were similar every year.
- Growing disparities by third grade: Even among students who started with similar KIDS scores, by third grade Black and Latino students, and students receiving free or reduced-priced lunch, were less likely to be proficient in math and language arts. That is, disparities appeared to be growing between kindergarten and third grade.
- Predictive value of KIDS: Kindergarten readiness scores were correlated with later academic performance, which should enable teachers to better tailor instruction.
Though English learners taking KIDS are meant to be assessed differently on English language concepts, the findings showed that most of them were not receiving this different assessment.
Additionally, the study found that readiness does grow over the kindergarten year in schools that administer the KIDS assessment at multiple timepoints, highlighting the crucial role of schools in students’ academic growth.
“These studies suggest that the KIDS assessment has value as a formative assessment tool, in that KIDS scores are predictive of future success in school,” said Sebastian Kiguel, the lead author of the studies. “Teachers and schools can hopefully use information from KIDS to support all students in their academic trajectories, regardless of starting point.”
The findings underscore the importance of addressing educational disparities early and consistently.
“Now that we better understand the relationship between KIDS scores and grade three scores, we can dig deeper on the factors that influence kindergarten readiness and the trajectory between kindergarten and third grade,” IWERC Director Meg Bates said. “Our next two studies in this series will look at exactly that — how early childhood experiences shape kindergarten readiness, and how K–12 schools shape what happens for students’ learning between kindergarten and later elementary school.”