Regents approve kindergarten evaluations

ALBANY -- The state Board of Regents Monday approved a plan to evaluate all kindergartners as they enter school to determine their readiness for the classroom.

Educators say the effort would involve testing and a broader evaluation of students, though it would not be a "high stakes" test to put students on a specific education track. Instead, it would better inform teachers about what kinds of help a student needs. The new requirement would take effect in the 2014-15 academic year.

Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo has backed the initiative as a way to win an estimated $100 million federal grant to upgrade early-childhood education.

"This is driven by the governor's office," said Regents Chancellor Merryl Tisch of Manhattan. Noting that the grant, the "Early Learning Challenge Grant," would come through the governor's office, Tisch said, "They have asked us to do one small piece."

Some regents said schools would benefit from the broader evaluations.

"I think this is essential whether we win the grant or not," said Regent Robert Bennett of Buffalo. "I don't know why we wouldn't do it."

The new assessments would impact about 190,000 kindergartners statewide each year, including 31,000 on Long Island.

Regents stressed that the process is in the planning stages. They directed state Education Department staff to develop an assessment tool that measures multiple factors of "school readiness," including: language and literacy development; cognition and general knowledge; approaches to learning; physical well-being and motor skills.

"It would be a single-point-in-time measure of the essential domains of school readiness that is more in-depth than the screening requirements currently in place," reads an Education Department memo in support, "and would be used as one piece of evidence that will help schools understand what knowledge, skills and dispositions toward learning children possess when they begin kindergarten."

Education Department officials couldn't provide a cost estimate. They said they were confident it would be covered without major budget impacts.