A Closer Look at the

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A Closer Look at the ASR School Readiness
Assessment ModelTM
Lynne Mobilio, PhD Director of Research Applied
Survey Research
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Topics for Review

• Introduction to the ASR School Readiness
  Assessment ModelTM
• Key components of the model
• Research purposes and methodology
• Addressing implementation challenges
• An examination of ASRs assessment tools
• Development of the KOF and PIF
• A study of the reliability / validity of the KOF
• A review of typical findings
• Does readiness matter? A summary of
  hot-off-the-presses longitudinal findings

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What is school readiness?
Ready Child
Ready Schools

Creating awareness of healthy development so
schools can better serve children
Fostering the growth and developmentof
childrens skills
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Components of the ASR SRA ModelTM
I /II
Wrapped in systems to ensure high quality
recruitment, data, analysis, reporting
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Why do an assessment?
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Why do an assessment?
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What does SRA deliver?

• A statistically valid, quantitative portrait of
  childrens readiness for kindergarten across 24
  skills and four Basic Building Blocks
• Information about what demographic and family
  factors are linked to readiness, such as prior
  preschool experience, family education, and
  language proficiency
• Insight into teachers desired levels of
  proficiency, their prioritization of skills, ease
  of impact ratings, backgrounds and
• Identification of key strengths and challenges.

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An Overview of Methodology

• Random sample of schools classes, stratified to
  district size
• Teachers serve as expert observers
• Each child is assessed on 24 readiness skills
• Occurs 4 weeks after start of school
• Assessment is conducted in primary languages

Approach

• Kindergarten Observation Form I II
• Parent Information Form
• Teacher Survey on Importance of Readiness Skills

Tools

• To the children enrolled in either a district or
  a whole county
• Margin of error Less than 4 ( / - )

Generalizable
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Addressing implementation challenges
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Recent Example Santa Clara County
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A Closer Look at the Tools
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Development of the tools

• Kindergarten Observation Form
• Based on National Education Goals Panel thinking
  and an in-depth literature review
• Community forums and teacher trainings localized
  the tool
• Extensive pilot-testing in 2001
• Reliability-tested and validity-tested
• Parent Information Form
• Examination of ECLS data pointed to dimensions
  most associated with readiness and later
  achievement
• Local partners added items of interest
• Core set of items plus modules (e.g., mental
  health) for specific research purposes

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Reliability validity of the KOF
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Typical Findings
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Basic Building Blocks of Readiness
Prototypic skills
Kindergarten Academics

• Writes own name
• Engages with books
• Can count 10 objects
• Recognizes all letters
• Most recent alpha.87

Alphas are strong!
Social Expression
Self-Regulation

• Has expressive abilities
• Engages in symbolic play
• Relates appropriately to adults
• Appropriately expresses needs
• Most recent alpha.90

• Pays attention
• Controls impulses
• Participates in circle time
• Plays cooperatively
• Most recent alpha.94

Self-Care Motor Skills

• Has general coordination on playground
• Uses small manipulatives
• Performs basic self-help / self-care tasks

• Most recent alpha.80

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Children exhibit one of 4 profiles upon entry
46-48
15-19
21-27
10-13
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Factors most associated with readiness
Regression analysis on 3 years of data in Santa
Clara County. All betas are statistically
significant, ps range .0005 to .05.Overall
regression model explains 31 of the variance in
readiness.
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Teacher priorities for readiness

• Time and again, teachers rate Self-Care Motor
  Skills and Self-Regulation as most critical to
  entry

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Does Readiness Matter?
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Recent longitudinal analysis says YES!

• 1,322 children participated in readiness
  assessments in 5 high-needs districts in San
  Mateo County in 01-03
• Standardized test scores from 3rd, 4th, and/or
  5th grades were matched to readiness scores for
  719 children (54)
• What did we examine?
• Links between readiness scores and later
  achievement
• Did readiness gaps narrow?

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Recent longitudinal analysis says YES!

• Children who enter school most ready to go the
  All-Stars are most successful on academic tests
  at 3rd grade.
• Gaps that we see in readiness are still in
  present in 3rd grade.
• Kindergarten Academics is most closely associated
  with later academic success.
• Children who enter high on Kindergarten Academics
  tend to have the higher test scores
• Children who are high in both Kindergarten
  Academics AND Social Expression do best.

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Children who start behindmay stay behind
Readiness and achievement scores for children who
were English Learners and English-Proficient
Average Readiness Test Scores
Note This chart is based on 243
English-proficient children and 374-375 English
Learners. Scores represent z-scores both
readiness scores and academic test scores were
standardized so as to be comparable. The
difference between these groups of children is
significant for overall readiness, ELA, and math
scores. Significance was assessed via t-tests, p
lt .0005. The significance of the change between
overall readiness and English scores and
overall readiness and math scores for each
group of children was assessed via paired t-tests
and found to be non-significant.
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Children who start behindmay stay behind

• National and local data reinforce that preschool
  can buffer readiness risk factors

Kindergarten
Third Grade
Kindergarten
Average Readiness Test Scores
Note This chart is based on 329-330 children
with preschool experience and 382-384 children
with no preschool experience. Scores represent
z-scores both readiness and achievement scores
were standardized so as to be comparable. The
difference between children with and without
preschool experience is significant for overall
readiness, ELA, and math scores. Significance
was assessed via t-tests, p lt .0005. The
significance of the change between overall
readiness and English scores and overall
readiness and math scores for each group of
children was assessed via paired t-tests and
found to be non-significant.
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What ups the odds that children are ready?

• Having attended a preschool and/or kindergarten
  transition programs
• Improved Kindergarten Academics and Social
  Expression skills, as well as focused attention
  just those readiness skills that matter most

Linked to
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Questions Discussion Lynne Mobilio Applied
Survey Research 408.247.8319 Lynne_at_appliedsurveyr
esearch.org
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Appendix
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Readiness Assessment Milestones
2000
The ASR SRA ModelTM and KOF were developed
Yearly assessments in 8 key San Mateo
districts Tests of reliability and validity were
conducted
01-03
ASR leveraged expanded the methodology 3
county-wide assessments were launched in SC, 1 in
SM 2 assessments were launched in Lake County,
ILL Multiple KTK evaluations
04-06
05-06
Pressing needs spurred the launch of joint
Awareness to Action Study Circle groups in SCC/SMC
2007
District-wide assessment conducted in San
Francisco
Coordinated efforts to turn awareness ?
action! Assessments launching in Alameda County,
LA, San Mateo, Santa Clara
2008
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Tool development KOF