Bill Text: CA SCR125 | 2015-2016 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Kindergarten readiness assessment tool.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Failed) 2016-11-30 - From committee without further action. [SCR125 Detail]
Download: California-2015-SCR125-Introduced.html
BILL NUMBER: SCR 125 INTRODUCED
BILL TEXT
INTRODUCED BY Senator Allen
MARCH 31, 2016
Relative to kindergarten readiness assessment.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SCR 125, as introduced, Allen. Kindergarten readiness assessment
tool.
This measure would state that the Legislature will work towards
the adoption of a statewide, developmentally appropriate kindergarten
readiness assessment tool to assess the readiness of children
entering transitional kindergarten and kindergarten.
Fiscal committee: no.
WHEREAS, Children are natural learners and begin learning the day
they are born. Significant brain development occurs in the earliest
years. In fact, the vast majority of brain development occurs by five
years of age; and
WHEREAS, District, state, and community-level data on readiness
gaps would help policymakers and community leaders to target and
implement effective early learning programs, as well as reinforce
ongoing efforts to establish a robust, accessible system of early
identification and intervention for developmental delays; and
WHEREAS, Children entering kindergarten who have the physical and
motor development, social and emotional skills, approaches to
learning, language development, and cognitive development to be
active and engaged learners are 10 times more likely to meet the
expectations of California state standards by grade 3 than those who
are less prepared when they start school. Children reading at
grade-level at grade 3 are more likely to complete high school
prepared for college, careers, and civic life; and
WHEREAS, Readiness assessments are a multidimensional measure of a
child's developing abilities and skills upon entering transitional
kindergarten and kindergarten; and
WHEREAS, Every teacher, principal, and school administrator wants
his or her young pupils to thrive as they move through their
transitional kindergarten and kindergarten years and into the early
elementary grades; and
WHEREAS, A kindergarten readiness assessment should not just
measure pupil proficiency on preacademic skills, but should also
measure the range of developmental domains, including language,
problem solving, self regulation, interpersonal skills, fine and
gross motor skills, and disposition towards learning; and
WHEREAS, School readiness assessments provide data that can be
used to improve systems of support for pupils in the classroom,
school, district, region, and state, as well as to ensure the
instruction provided to pupils is the most appropriate based on their
strengths and areas for growth; and
WHEREAS, The California Children and Families Commission (First 5
California) and First 5 county commissions have been committed to
ensuring children are ready for kindergarten, including investing in
kindergarten readiness assessments, for many years; and
WHEREAS, In measuring all of these developmental domains, an
age-appropriate kindergarten readiness assessment tool aligned to
California's state standards would provide valuable information to
parents, teachers, school administrators, and state policymakers
about both the readiness of children and the readiness of early
childhood systems and K-12 educational systems that prepare and
support them; and
WHEREAS, Without the consistent, widespread use of a valid and
reliable readiness assessment tool that measures a child's learning
and development holistically, the state currently has no meaningful
way to gauge the diverse and changing needs of its youngest learners;
and
WHEREAS, A kindergarten readiness assessment should not be used
for high stakes purposes, such as district, school, or program
accountability, to determine entry into school, or to determine a
pupil's educational path; and
WHEREAS, Over one-half of the states in the country collect
kindergarten readiness information in a state-level data system, and
federal leaders are increasingly seeking to invest in states that are
gathering and use comprehensive data to build and drive their early
childhood systems; and
WHEREAS, A statewide kindergarten readiness tool will ensure
consistent assessment of readiness throughout the state and will
provide critical data to guide planning and resource allocation; and
WHEREAS, Successful statewide implementation of a kindergarten
readiness assessment tool will require local and state resources and
support, and will require leadership to build commitment among local
educational and early childhood system leaders and other key
stakeholders across the state; and
WHEREAS, The Legislature must play a leadership role in
establishing a uniform, statewide kindergarten readiness assessment
tool that provides meaningful data so that early childhood system
leaders, teachers, and policymakers can intervene strategically to
promote the success of the next generation; now therefore, be it
Resolved by the Senate of the State of California, the Assembly
thereof concurring, That the Legislature will work towards the
adoption of a statewide kindergarten readiness assessment tool that
is developmentally appropriate to assess the readiness of children
entering transitional kindergarten and kindergarten and that helps to
provide a system that better supports children's individual and
collective needs; and be it further
Resolved, That the Secretary of the Senate transmit copies of this
resolution to the author for appropriate distribution.
