What is a Kindergarten Entry Assessment (KEA)?
Kindergarten Entry Assessments, or KEAs, are tools states use to measure children’s skills and development at or near the start of kindergarten. KEAs may measure areas such as language, literacy, mathematics, social-emotional development, physical development, cognition, and approaches to learning.
For this project, we use KEA as an umbrella term. We include multi-domain kindergarten entry assessments and screeners when states use them to assess children’s early learning or development at kindergarten entry. Multi-domain assessments provide information across several areas of learning and development, while screeners are typically narrower tools used to identify children who may need additional support or follow-up assessment.
What is the difference between Kindergarten Entry Assessment (KEA) and Kindergarten Readiness Assessment (KRA)?
The terms are often used interchangeably. KEA emphasizes when the assessment is administered, at or near kindergarten entry, while KRA emphasizes what the assessment is intended to measure: children’s “readiness” for kindergarten.
The term “readiness” is widely used in state policy and assessment systems, but it can be misleading if interpreted as a fixed trait of individual children. Children’s skills at kindergarten entry reflect the opportunities, experiences, and supports available to them before school, including access to early learning environments, family and community resources, health and developmental supports, and stable, nurturing relationships.
We use KEA to focus on what states measure when children enter school.
How current is this information?
What do the KEA policy landscape categories mean?
KEA policy categories capture the major differences in how states approach kindergarten entry assessment, from mandatory statewide systems with a common tool to states with no formal statewide KEA structure. States' KEA policies vary along two dimensions: whether an assessment is required, and whether a single tool is mandated or districts have options.
- Required statewide — one common tool: All districts are required to administer the same state-designated KEA tool.
- Required statewide — multiple or local tool options: All districts are required to administer a KEA, but districts may select from a state-approved list of tools or use a locally selected tool.
- Optional statewide — one common tool: Districts are not required to administer a KEA, but the state requires one tool for participating districts.
- Optional statewide — multiple or local tool options: Districts are not required to administer a KEA, and participating districts may select from a state-approved list of tools or use a locally selected tool.
- No statewide KEA policy: States in this category have no statewide requirement, recommended assessment structure, formal guidance, or prior statewide KEA system. Individual districts may still choose to administer local assessments, but those local practices are outside the scope of this state policy scan.
Why are some states listed as having an optional KEA if they once required a KEA?
What does “assessment purpose” mean?
Assessment purpose describes the primary goal the state says the KEA is meant to achieve, not how the assessment is actually used in practice. States use KEAs for various reasons, and many assessments are described as serving multiple purposes.
The primary purpose was coded using official state documentation, including relevant policy or legislative language, public state education agency webpages, assessment overviews, and administration manuals. Each state was assigned to one primary purpose category. When state materials described more than one purpose, the coding reflected the purpose that appeared most consistently across available KEA documentation.
This project groups the primary purpose into four broad categories:
- Screener: Identifies children who may need additional support, follow-up services, or intervention.
- Instructional planning: Provides detailed information teachers can use to differentiate and plan instruction.
- Readiness documentation: Provides a point-in-time record of what children know and can do at kindergarten entry.
- System alignment: Helps support communication and coordination among families, early learning providers, schools, and state leaders during the transition to kindergarten.
Primary purpose is coded for states that require a statewide KEA. Because purpose is based on state-level policy and guidance, it can be reported for required KEA states even when districts may choose from multiple tools. States without a required statewide KEA were not sorted into a purpose category.
Why are assessment details not listed for every state?
How were assessment domains coded?
Assessment domains were coded through a systematic review of state education agency websites, official assessment instruments, administration manuals, state statutes, publicly available KEA data portals, and direct outreach to state officials when public documentation was unclear.
To compare domains across states, assessment content was mapped to a common coding structure based on the Maryland-Ohio KRA framework. This coding provides a common framework for describing assessment content across states; it does not imply that assessments within a domain measure the same skills or cover them to the same extent. The coding organizes assessment content into four core categories: Social Foundations, Language & Literacy, Math, and Physical Well-Being & Motor Development.
- Social Foundations includes children’s emotional awareness, self-regulation, relationships with adults and peers, and responsible behavior that supports participation in classroom learning and social settings.
- Language & Literacy includes children’s developing ability to understand, communicate, read, and write, including skills related to vocabulary, phonics, comprehension, and communication.
- Math includes children’s developing ability to work with numbers, compare and classify objects, understand measurement, and recognize shapes and spatial relationships.
- Physical Well-Being & Motor Development includes children’s health, large and small motor skills, safety awareness, and self-care skills that support participation in daily classroom activities.
This four-domain structure is broadly consistent with federally recognized areas of school readiness, though it groups some areas differently. For example, approaches to learning are included within Social Foundations, and cognitive/general knowledge skills are represented primarily through Math and Language & Literacy.
Domain coding is reported for states that require all districts to use a common statewide KEA tool. In states where districts may choose among multiple tools, domains measured may vary depending on which assessment they use.
What does “assessment type” mean?
Assessment type describes how the KEA is administered.
- Observational assessments require teachers or educators to document children’s skills and behaviors during typical, everyday classroom activities and routines, rather than in a dedicated testing environment.
- Direct assessments ask children to complete specific tasks or prompts, often one-on-one with an adult or through a digital platform.
- Hybrid assessments combine direct assessment tasks with observational components.
Assessment type is coded for states that require all districts to use a common statewide KEA tool. For states that allow multiple or local tool options, assessment type may depend on the tool selected by districts.
What does “assessment developer” mean?
Assessment developer describes whether the KEA tool was developed by the state or adopted from an external source.
State-developed assessments are created by a state education agency, either independently or in partnership with other states or organizations, to align with state learning standards or policy priorities.
Externally developed assessments are existing tools developed outside the state by a company, university, nonprofit organization, or another state that the state adopts for KEA purposes. States may customize or adapt these tools to fit their own standards or reporting needs, but they are still coded as externally developed if the state did not create the underlying tool. For example, a state using a subset of Teaching Strategies GOLD is still coded as externally developed.
Assessment developer is coded for states that require all districts to use a common statewide KEA tool. For states that allow multiple or local tool options, the assessment developer may depend on the tool selected by districts.
What does “assessment window” mean?
Assessment window describes when the state requires or schedules its KEA to be administered. States define these windows in different ways. Some specify the number of days or weeks after the start of school or a student’s enrollment, while others use specific calendar dates. For states that administer the assessment more than once during the school year, the timing of the first administration is reported.
Assessment window is reported for states that require all districts to use a common statewide KEA tool.
Why is data availability not shown for every state?
Data availability is shown for states that require all districts to use a common statewide KEA tool. These states are most relevant to the project’s future work because their KEA results can be compared across districts within the state.
For states with publicly available data, the website also shows the reporting level (e.g., school, district, or state) and which subgroup results are publicly available.
States that allow districts to choose different assessments may still publicly report KEA data; however, they are not included in the current data availability review.