The Kindergarten Individual Development Survey (KIDS) is an observational tool designed to help teachers, administrators, families and policymakers better understand the developmental readiness of children entering kindergarten. KIDS is core to the Illinois State Board of Education’s (ISBE) goal that every child in Illinois deserves to attend a school wherein all kindergarteners are assessed for readiness. Kindergarten teachers statewide began using KIDS in Fall 2017. The statewide implementation followed five years of piloting with select districts. KIDS deepens our collective understanding of the importance of investing in early learning for all students to get a strong start.

KIDS focuses on the knowledge, skills, and behaviors across four key domains that most impact long-term student success. The domains are: Approaches to Learning and Self-Regulation; Social and Emotional Development; Language and Literacy Development; and Cognition: Math.