Building Capacity to Develop Kindergarten-Ready Students – Mt. Vernon, IN
Many school districts in Indiana recognized that children were entering school with limited skills due to varying factors. Kindergarten and early elementary grades needed a common measurement of early childhood social and emotional learning, and development skills. In 2013, Mt. Vernon School District's Safe Schools/Healthy Students program administered over 400 kindergarten-readiness checklists to 40 early child-care providers and preschool programs in a three-county area.
The questionnaire provided information on children’s skill sets entering each year, and gave the early childhood providers information on which skills kindergarten teachers desired students learn before entering kindergarten. In addition to general cognitive and behavioral skills needed in kindergarten classrooms, elementary school teachers also pointed to social skills as important to early school success.
The initiative also partnered with a child care–referral agency to expand use of the Ages and Stages Social Emotional Questionnaire to 10 agencies, to help train their staff members on additional assessment tools for measuring social and emotional development. The questionnaire increased the capacity of providers to gauge the social and emotional development of children in their care.