SPRINGFIELD – The Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) has announced that the state will obtain and report consistent measures of developmental readiness for all kindergarten students starting in the fall of 2017. The Kindergarten Individual Development Survey (KIDS) will guide kindergarten teachers through observations of students as they go about their normal daily routines of playing and schoolwork.
Children enter kindergarten with a wide variety of early learning experiences, from home care, child care, private preschool, and Head Start to learning English or requiring special education services. KIDS will deepen the state’s understanding of where children have and do not have access to high-quality early learning opportunities. KIDS will help communities and service providers across sectors understand what children need for success in school.
"Children begin developing critical competencies and skills in the first five years of life,” said State Superintendent of Education Tony Smith, Ph.D. “The path toward college and career readiness truly starts with the path toward kindergarten readiness. Preparing children for success in school is a whole community responsibility. KIDS will help schools, families, and communities to bridge learning and connect supports for children in their critical early years.”
ISBE has piloted KIDS across the state since 2012, engaging more than 50,000 children. Three-hundred and eighty unique school districts have entered KIDS data into KIDSTech in the last five years. (KIDSTech is a server-based computer support system for entering data and producing reports.) View case studies from the KIDS pilots in
“We used to be very mastery-focused, like, ‘Here’s the skill you have to master,’” said Kristina Davis, assistant superintendent for learning in
West Chicago Elementary School District 33, which will begin its sixth year of administering KIDS this fall. “But in kindergarten, every child comes in with a different experience, so now our focus is on each individual child’s target, rather than a district target.”
KIDS facilitates observations to measure children’s knowledge in language, literacy, math, social and emotional development, and in skill-building competencies such as curiosity, creativity, and perseverance. The 14 State Readiness Measures, spanning four developmental domains, are strong predictors of a child’s long-term educational success.
“In a district like ours where we’re under-resourced and the kids are lacking exposure to a lot of things and experiences, KIDS has been really important for educators and great for our kids,” said Davis.
The state requires all districts to use the KIDS tool to observe students on 14 measures within the first 40 days of students’ attendance, but districts do have the option to collect additional measures and to conduct additional rounds of observations. Many pilot districts have chosen to expand their use of KIDS. Teachers have found the information about their students to be critical to their instructional decision-making and to communicating with families about how to support children’s development at home. KIDS is the result of years of planning and collaboration among child development specialists, early childhood advocates, educators, elementary teachers and administrators, and ISBE. Key partners include Advance Illinois, Ounce of Prevention Fund, Robert R. McCormick Foundation, Steans Family Foundation, Joyce Foundation, and the W. Clement and Jesse V. Stone Foundation.
ISBE launched a webpage with resources, fact sheets, frequently asked questions, and other information for teachers, administrators, and families at
KIDS.
