Paul Reville, the state’s education secretary, emphasized that the kindergarten readiness assessments, which are in the conceptual phase, “shouldn’t be mistaken for an early MCAS’’ and will not be used to determine who should enter kindergarten.
“It will be a more subtle and nuanced approach to assessing students,’’ Reville said. “The goal is to get a better sense of how students are doing, particularly in literacy.’’
The labor-intensive data collection, however, could be a tough sell to local districts and teachers, especially as budget cuts have pushed up class sizes, said Jason Sachs, director of early childhood education for Boston public schools. Boston, he said, already uses 14 assessments in kindergarten.
“We assess kindergarten students way too much,’’ said Sachs, who nevertheless added that he is a fan of assessing students by observation, the method the state is leaning toward.
State education officials hope that collecting this data statewide will help them measure the gap in skills among the more than 65,000 kindergarten students who enroll annually in public schools.
By answering some fundamental questions - such as “how many kindergartners can actually read?’’ or “how many do not know their ABCs?’’- the state says it can more effectively target money and create new programs for elementary schools with large numbers of students lagging in key skills.
The state can also use the data to shore up both public and private preschool programs, many of which base their instructional practices on state academic standards.
“I know assessments can be a hot-button issue,’’ said Amy O’Leary, campaign director for Early Education for All, an initiative of the Boston-based nonprofit Strategies for Children.
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