School Readiness Indicators: Making Progress for Young Children was a multi-state initiative that used child well-being indicators to build a change agenda in states and local communities in order to improve school readiness and ensure early school success. The task of participating states was to develop a set of child outcome and systems indicators for children from birth through the fourth-grade reading test, an important red flag for children most at-risk for poor long-term outcomes, such as dropping out of school, teen pregnancy, and juvenile crime.

Objective 1: To create a set of measurable indicators related to and defining school readiness that can be tracked regularly over time at the state and local levels.

Objective 2: To have states and local governments adopt this indicators-based definition of school readiness, fill in the gaps in data availability, track data over time, and report findings to their citizens.

Objective 3: To stimulate policy, program, and other actions to improve the ability of all children to read at grade level by the end of third grade. 

The school readiness indicators that were developed are comprehensive and practical. Indicators will be tracked at the state level and in local communities in order to monitor the capacity of child and family programs to meet the variable needs that exist across communities. Indicators reflect state investments in programs and policies for young children and families as well as child outcomes. The indicators are broad enough to present a picture of the whole child, including children's health status, what children know and can do, children's mental and emotional health, and children’s economic well-being. Indicators have been developed to fill the gap in knowledge between the child's status at birth and their status at school entry.

Ready or Not: Preparing Rhode Island's Children to Succeed in School

Benchmarks for Progress

State Teams

The School Readiness Indicators Initiative: Making Progress for Young Children involved 17 states, including Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Massachusetts, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Ohio, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, and Wisconsin. Over the course of the initiative, the 17 state teams worked individually and as a group to develop a comprehensive set of measures to monitor school readiness and service system outcomes for children and families. This is envisioned as a "menu" of indicators that reflect the full range of child outcomes and systems outcomes critical to the well-being of young children and families across the nation.

The initiative engaged the highest levels of state government, including the Governor's office and key state agencies serving children. States worked in individual state teams and across states to conceptualize relevant indicators, to increase each state's capacity to obtain and use data, and to develop effective communications strategies. Each state created a multi-agency state team of senior policy and data staff who worked together to develop and use indicators to measure progress for young children. Each state developed an initial work plan for indicator development that supports a policy agenda designed to improve school readiness and improve outcomes for children from birth through the beginning of fourth grade.

Project Strategies

A peer-to-peer learning network of the 17 state teams was created and facilitated by Rhode Island KIDS COUNT. Because states were at different stages of skills and experience in developing and using indicators for policy change, they were able to provide valuable technical assistance to their peers. The state teams used collaborative decision making to guide the development of forums for learning, sharing, and achieving state and cross-state goals for developing and strategically using indicators to make change for young children. The forums that were conducted included:

• National meetings in which representatives from state teams met to provide peer-to-peer support on indicator development and conceptual issues, data and technology issues, and communications strategies.
  
• A Website for the Initiative (www.GettingReady.org) that is designed to share information on best practices in policies and programs for young children, to share measurement and indicator tools, to enable each state to post relevant materials and provide updates on progress, and to link to print and organizational resources.
  
• A listserv that provides a vehicle for problem-solving and for the interactive sharing of ideas and resources.

Residency roundtables were convened two to four times a year to tackle tough conceptual issues in a focused way. During these roundtables, 15 to 30 state leaders and field experts worked together to make accelerated progress in priority areas, such as children's mental health indicators and best practices in kindergarten assessment. Formal written reports and conclusions from the meeting are provided to the 17 states and posted on the Web site for widespread dissemination.

Expert consultants with selected skills and experience were engaged as needed to support the work of the initiative. The primary role of the consultants was to provide assistance to the network of states as a whole or to groups of states with common issues. The consultations took on a variety of formats, including commissioned papers on priority issues and participation at convening meetings and residency roundtables. On a selective basis, expert consultants provided on-site consultation to individual states in order to advance their indicator agendas. States receiving individual consultation shared progress and lessons learned as part of the peer-to-peer learning network.

Project Management

Rhode Island KIDS COUNT, a multi-issue children's policy organization, was the lead agency for this national initiative. In partnership with other key agencies, Rhode Island KIDS COUNT provided project leadership and worked closely with the participating states to meet project goals, to develop credible indicators, and to inform local, state, and national policy change.

School Readiness Indicators: Making Progress For Young Children was an initiative of the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, and the Ford Foundation

For additional information, please contact Rhode Island KIDS COUNT at One Union Station, Providence RI 02903, (401) 351-9400, f: (401) 351-1758 www.GettingReady.org