What Happens At Your Child’s Kindergarten Screening?
Your child’s kindergarten screening is an important milestone that can prepare them for long-term success in school. It helps educators, families and communities understand where each child stands in their development and what kind of support they might need.
Read on to learn what a kindergarten screening is, its purpose and how the results are used. We'll also address common misconceptions and provide tips on how you can support your child in preparing for these assessments. By the end, you'll understand why these screenings are a valuable tool for your child's success in school and beyond.
What is a Kindergarten Screening?
In Indiana, kindergarten screening provides an overview of a child's readiness for school. Key tools include the Kindergarten Readiness Assessment and Student Performance Readiness and Observation of Understanding Tool (ISPROUT), administered within the first six weeks of school. These assessments evaluate developmental and academic skills, such as math and literacy.
Preschools, child care centers and community-based providers in Indiana can use these assessments and receive state support free of charge. The goal is to identify where children excel or need support, helping educators adjust instruction and ensuring a solid start to their educational journey.
What is the Purpose of a Kindergarten Screening?
Kindergarten screenings are crucial in preparing children for the start of their educational journey. These screenings help schools, families and communities understand a child's readiness in early learning and development, such as social and emotional skills, language, cognitive abilities, motor skills, physical well-being and approaches toward learning.
It's important to clarify that these screenings are not intelligence tests. Instead, they help identify where a child stands in their development and what kind of support they may need to succeed in kindergarten. The goal is to tailor educational approaches to each child's needs, not to label or limit their potential.
How will the results from my child’s screening be used?
For Children: Screenings assess a child’s preparedness in all areas of early learning. This helps identify strengths and areas where additional support might be needed, ensuring children can thrive in a structured learning environment.
For Families: Screenings provide valuable insights into a child's developmental level. They help parents understand the school environment and expectations, fostering supportive partnerships with educators to enhance their child's educational experience.
For Schools: The results allow teachers to meet each child where they are developmentally. Schools can align their standards and curriculums to create engaging, predictable environments that incorporate the unique experiences, cultures and backgrounds of their students.
For Communities: Screenings emphasize the importance of early learning and encourage communities to support young children’s educational outcomes positively.
What Skills are Assessed During Kindergarten Screenings?
Print Awareness
Print awareness is the understanding that books contain letters and words that carry meaning. Kindergarten readiness expectations for print awareness include:
Tracking words in books from left to right and top to bottom with adult support
Labeling pictures and symbols (e.g., stop signs, store names, food labels)
Distinguishing print from pictures
Letter Knowledge
Letter knowledge is the ability to recognize and name letters in the alphabet. Kindergarten readiness expectations for this skill include:
Using a variety of activities to recognize uppercase and lowercase letters
Recognizing that letters have sounds and that these letter sounds can be used to make words
Recognizing their name in print
Phonemic Awareness
Phonemic awareness is the ability to hear and manipulate sounds, see that speech is composed of sounds and understand that some words rhyme. Examples of phonemic awareness include:
Responding to and producing a variety of sounds
Producing and blending sounds into recognizable words
Comparing and distinguishing sounds within words and different words
Attempting or imitating rhyming
Demonstrating basic knowledge of letter-sound correspondence
Writing
All attempts at writing (scribbles, pictures, symbols, letters, etc.) are part of the literacy development process to communicate ideas. Writing and reading are closely related in this way. Kindergarten readiness expectations for this skill include:
Using a variety of writing tools
Forming some letters, shapes and symbols with adult support
Writing their name
Expressing ideas and stories through symbols, letters or pictures
Communication
Communication is the ability to understand and express thoughts, ideas, feelings and information verbally and nonverbally. Kindergarten readiness expectations for this skill include:
Retelling familiar stories, poems and rhymes
Speaking in complete sentences to describe familiar people, places, things and events
Participating in collaborative conversations on age-appropriate topics
Comprehension
Comprehension is when a child reacts to a story in many ways. They can show this by identifying details from a story or picture, talking about characters and settings, and retelling or responding to familiar stories and events. Kindergarten readiness expectations for this skill include:
Asking and answering questions about main topics and key details in a story or event read aloud or shared through another form of media
Asking questions when they don’t understand
Retelling familiar stories, poems and rhymes
Number Sense
Learning number sense involves thinking and working with numbers to understand how they relate and their different uses. Kindergarten readiness expectations for this skill include:
Knowing numbers represent quantities
Using quantities to compare more or less (1–10)
Counting numbers (1–20)
Recognizing numbers (1–10)
Writing numbers (1–10)
Sorting and Classifying Objects
Learning to use addition and subtraction in problem-solving begins with the opportunity for young children to count, sort, compare objects and describe their thinking and observations in everyday situations. Kindergarten readiness expectations for this skill include:
Exploring shape, size and color
Matching these attributes and their opposites
Sorting and creating patterns in multiple ways
Creating and extending simple patterns
Geometry, Measurement and Time
By touching and comparing various objects, children begin to understand the differences in their uses and attributes. To understand the concept of time, they can also learn by recognizing it in their everyday lives. Kindergarten readiness expectations for this skill include:
Identifying and differentiating between two- and three-dimensional shapes
Using the attributes of shapes to distinguish between them
Anticipating routines by using vocabulary to identify and sequence events in that routine
Distinguishing between big and little and size variation
Computation
To help children compare quantities and understand math words, they can start by learning more, less, smaller than, bigger than and different than. These words help children describe the size and shape of objects and the relationships of objects to one another. Kindergarten readiness expectations for this skill include:
Manipulating objects to match or create sets
Making a set of objects smaller or larger
Following models of addition or subtraction with objects
Should I Prep My Child for the Assessment?
To help your child prepare for the assessment, you can practice some fun activities at home with friendly adults. These can help prevent your child from feeling scared, overwhelmed or pressured by the assessment.
Some early literacy practices you can try at home include:
Reading to your child every day using different sources.
Having your child read to you by pointing to pictures or discussing what a story is about. Enhance the experience by using props to tell stories.
Helping your child’s awareness of sounds in letters and how to blend sounds to make words.
Finding books with simple stories to help them begin thinking about what they see or hear. Ask them to draw their favorite part.
Providing opportunities for your child to use materials to scribble, draw and create.
Asking your child questions about something you’ve read to them. “What do you think the author was trying to tell us there?” “What do you think they wanted us to remember after we read this?"
There are also mathematics practices you can try at home. These can include:
Practicing estimation skills (e.g., “How many crackers do you think I gave you?”)
Giving your child three of an object and yourself two, then ask, “How many more do you have than me?” Practice with different numbers.
Noticing and pointing out patterns in everyday activities.
Counting items in daily life (e.g., the number of wheels on a car).
Sorting cereal by shape, size or color. Make simple patterns with cereal and other objects.
Creating an obstacle course and using words like over, under and around to explain a route.
Using bath time or doing the dishes to explore volume by filling and emptying cups of water.
What If I Have Concerns About My Child’s Results?
If you have concerns about your child's performance on the kindergarten readiness assessment, it's important to remember that these results are just one piece of the puzzle. The assessment is designed to provide a snapshot of where your child stands in their development and identify areas where they might need additional support.
Here’s what you can do to address any concerns:
Meet with teachers and administrators: Discuss the results with your child’s teacher and school staff to understand them in an age-appropriate context. They can explain your child’s strengths and areas for growth.
Clarify what the results mean: These assessments do not measure intelligence. They indicate where your child might need support. The goal is to tailor educational approaches to their needs.
Consider developmental readiness: If your child is younger, consider the possibility of a second year in pre-K. Talk to teachers and school staff to decide if this is the best option.
Create a support plan: Collaborate with educators to develop a plan that supports your child’s growth in areas of concern.
By staying involved and partnering with the school, you can ensure your child gets the support they need to succeed.
How Can I Help My Child Develop Kindergarten Readiness Skills?
By understanding and participating in kindergarten screenings, parents can play an active role in their child's early education, helping to ensure a smooth transition into the school system and laying the foundation for their future academic success.
You can read our latest blog to see more about what your kids should know before they enter kindergarten and how you can help them prepare.