Editorial: Kindergarten preparedness and long-term school success

Some educators were quick to declare that a recent state study showing large numbers of Illinois children arrive at kindergarten unprepared demonstrates the need for more funding for preschool programs.

Well, maybe.

But funding is just one part of the conversation, and any discussion of whether to provide more resources and where to get them has to be conducted in conjunction with several other important issues raised by the Illinois State Board of Education's first year of data from its Kindergarten Individual Development Survey, or KIDS.

The KIDS report measured student preparedness in 14 different skill areas across three broad formative ranges - social and emotional development, language and literacy and math cognition. With such a large field of evaluation, it is hardly surprising that less than 24 percent of kindergartners surveyed demonstrated readiness in all three major development measures. Nor is it surprising - although certainly worrisome - that income levels were closely associated with student preparedness. Income levels have long been associated with academic achievement and the Daily Herald's own reporting has explored that link in suburban schools.

But suburban educators also recognized, as our writer Madhu Krishnamurthy reported last week, that readiness is a variable they must always consider in their planning and curriculum development.

David Wilm, assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction for Wauconda Unit District 118, noted that how prepared students are when they show up for kindergarten is not necessarily "a fair indication" of how well they will perform throughout their school careers. Teachers and administrators know to use measures such as KIDS assessments and others to customize their programming to the needs of their students.

And Fred Heid, superintendent of Algonquin-based Community Unit District 300, emphasized the challenge facing schools "when you can't control the preschool environments."

These are key considerations. They don't diminish the value of studying student preparedness, nor of understanding its role in long-term academic achievement. Indeed, Advance Illinois Executive Director Ginger Ostro accurately describes the importance of aligning early childhood learning and K-12 curriculum "because it is very hard to close gaps once they have opened."

But these observations also reflect the comprehensive view of education that must be maintained when evaluating the dissemination of finite school resources. We need to be aware of the importance of early childhood learning and of the income inequalities that can keep some kids from entering school as prepared as others. And we also need to be aware of what it will take to counteract those inequities as children move through the education system, so that by the time they finish, all will have had the opportunity to be as successful academically - and as well prepared for adulthood - as they can be.