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Educational Toolkits | Early Education – Kindergarten Readiness
Early Education Toolkit
Kindergarten readiness is more than a single test score—it is a comprehensive reflection of a child’s early development, their family’s access to resources, and the strength of their community support systems. While tools like the Brigance Kindergarten Screener offer valuable insights into a child’s preparedness, true readiness must encompass the broader conditions that enable every child in Kentucky to enter elementary school ready to succeed.
According to our most recent Big Bold Future report, just 48% of Kentucky children enter kindergarten ready to learn. This means that more than half of children begin school without the foundational skills and supports that set them up for long-term success, highlighting an urgent need for coordinated investment in early childhood.
For Children
For our youngest learners, kindergarten readiness begins with access to safe, nurturing, and developmentally appropriate environments. These settings should meet children where they are, build on their strengths, and support their physical, cognitive, and social-emotional growth. Readiness means children demonstrate self-regulation, executive function skills, and emotional well-being. All of these capabilities are closely linked to long-term academic success.
Early years are marked by rapid brain development, making this a critical time for learning through play, exploration, as well as early literacy, numeracy, and language experiences. When children enter kindergarten with strong foundations, they are more likely to reach grade-level proficiency in reading and math by third grade. This is another key indicator in our Big Bold Future report strongly linked to future academic achievement. For children with developmental needs, readiness also means they have been identified early and provided with interventions that help them start school on a more even playing field.
For Families and Communities
Kindergarten readiness depends on a web of supports for families that begin even before birth. Prospective parents benefit from accessible prenatal care that promotes healthy pregnancies and deliveries, particularly in historically underserved communities. Young children’s health is safeguarded through access to medical, dental, vision, hearing, and behavioral health services, while developmental screenings in the first five years ensure early detection and intervention for potential challenges.
A truly ready community is free of child care deserts, offering diverse, high-quality early care and education options that meet family needs. This requires recognizing early care and education as an essential public good supported by public policy, private investment, and community partnerships. A well-respected, fairly compensated early childhood workforce is central to this vision, sustained by recruitment and retention strategies that build a strong pipeline of educators.
For Schools
In the K-12 system, kindergarten readiness reflects collaboration between schools, early care providers, and families. Schools actively engage with children and parents before kindergarten, ensure smooth transitions, and share resources to raise quality across early learning settings. They help identify developmental needs early and connect families to services, while also working with higher education to promote the early childhood profession.
For Businesses
The business community has a vested interest in kindergarten readiness. Family-friendly workplace policies allow parents to access quality early care, supporting both workforce participation and employee stability. Business and industry leaders can be powerful advocates for local and state policies that expand access to high-quality care and education and can invest in early learning as a viable and necessary economic driver.
For Kentucky’s Future
When Kentucky commits to kindergarten readiness, it invests in the foundation of its talent pipeline and long-term economic vitality. Statewide readiness signals a belief that every child deserves access to quality early care and education that is fully-funded, coordinated, and diverse enough to meet the needs of all families. It means enacting policies that strengthen the workforce, unify the early childhood system, and support family economic mobility.
Kentucky can also track its progress toward this vision through clear and transparent data. To see Kentucky’s Early Care and Education ratings, click here.
Kindergarten readiness is a promise: that children will begin school equipped to succeed academically, socially, and emotionally; that families will have the support they need to nurture their children; that schools, communities, and businesses will work together for a shared goal; and that Kentucky will reap the benefits of a healthier, more skilled, and more prosperous population for generations to come.
True school readiness is not solely academic, and instead encompasses the cognitive, social, emotional, and physical competencies children need to thrive in school. The state of Kentucky has identified five key developmental areas of school readiness:
Kentucky’s Readiness Trends
According to the Kentucky Early Childhood Profiles, average readiness rates have held around 50% for the past decade, with a notable decline in 2022–2023 among children who were toddlers when the pandemic began. For local data, see the Kentucky Early Childhood Profiles and Prichard Committee Community Profiles.
The Evidence
Neuroscience confirms the first five years as a critical window for brain development, with more than one million new neural connections forming every second. By age five, over 90% of brain architecture is established, and altering these pathways becomes more difficult with age. High-quality, developmentally appropriate experiences during this period have lifelong impacts on learning and health.
Academic skills and self regulation/attention are the two widely accepted domains of readiness. Lower readiness correlates with weaker academic performance through high school, while higher readiness links to:
In Kentucky, 2019 kindergarteners rated “ready” or “ready with enrichments” on the Brigance screener were significantly more likely to score proficient or distinguished in third grade reading and math, while those “not ready” were more likely to score novice or apprentice.
Track both early signals and long-term outcomes.
Metrics that are in the Big Bold Future Report or your county’s Community Profile are indicated by these symbols.
Coordinated Recruitment and Enrollment streamlines families’ access to enrollment, services, and financial supports while promoting equity, efficiency, and transparency through cross-agency and cross-sector collaboration for coordinated, comprehensive early care and education.
Public-private partnerships unite government, businesses, and community organizations to expand access, improve quality, and strengthen outcomes in early childhood education. By pooling resources and expertise, they drive innovation, equity, and school readiness across a diverse early care ecosystem.
Quality Improvement Systems use comprehensive frameworks to set standards, provide supports, and promote continuous improvement in early childhood education, advancing equity, accountability, professional development, and positive outcomes for children and families.
Talent Pipeline Management focuses on attracting, developing, and retaining a skilled, diverse early childhood workforce to address shortages that impact the quality, accessibility, and affordability of programs for young children and families.
Case Studies, Spotlights, Key Media, Advocacy Resources
Access to and participation in high-quality early care and education (ECE) is a critical leading indicator of kindergarten readiness. Research in the United States shows that ECE participation supports the development of foundational skills in literacy, numeracy, self-regulation, and social interaction. In Kentucky, 2023 data confirm this connection, children enrolled in state-funded preschool or Head Start were more likely to be rated as “ready” for kindergarten on the state’s readiness screener compared to their peers who did not attend formal ECE programs.
To measure access and participation, Kentucky tracks the number and percentage of eligible children enrolled in three key programs: state-funded preschool, Head Start, and the Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP). These metrics capture both reach (how many children are served) and equity (how participation compares to the eligible population at state and local levels). Additionally, the average per-child cost of quality ECE, calculated at 160% of the federal poverty level, provides context for affordability, a major factor influencing access.
Monitoring these indicators helps policymakers, educators, and advocates identify gaps in enrollment, address barriers for underserved families, and target investments to ensure all Kentucky children can benefit from high-quality early learning experiences that set the stage for future success.
Quality in early care and education (ECE) is a leading indicator of kindergarten readiness because children benefit most when their early learning experiences go beyond basic health and safety to provide rich, developmentally appropriate instruction and support. High-quality ECE fosters stronger cognitive, social-emotional, and language skills, which are critical for school success.
Quality encompasses multiple dimensions, including nurturing educator-child relationships, evidence-based curricula, and well-prepared, professionally supported educators. In Kentucky, the KY ALL STARS Quality Rating and Improvement System evaluates these dimensions across four domains: classroom and instructional quality, staff qualifications and professional development, family and community engagement, and administrative and leadership practices. Higher ratings reflect alignment with Kentucky’s Early Childhood Standards, strong family partnerships, continuous improvement systems, and robust educator supports.
In 2023, fewer than half of Kentucky’s licensed and regulated ECE providers were rated high-quality (3 stars or higher), with a statewide average of 2.7 stars. Indicators used to track quality include the percentage of high-quality providers, the share of communities with average ratings of 3 or better, the proportion of early childhood slots in high-quality settings, staff-to-child ratios, and health and wellness referrals. Improving these metrics strengthens early learning environments and better equips children for success in kindergarten and beyond.
A high-quality early care and education (ECE) workforce is a cornerstone of kindergarten readiness. Skilled, well-supported educators create nurturing, engaging, and developmentally appropriate environments that foster children’s cognitive, social-emotional, and physical growth. Key components of a strong ECE workforce include formal education and ongoing professional training, recognized credentials and career pathways, deep knowledge of child development, cultural competence, and the ability to build strong relationships with children and families. Educators must also demonstrate socio-emotional competence, uphold high health and safety standards, and engage in advocacy and leadership for the profession.
Investing in the ECE workforce through professional development, scholarships, competitive compensation, and supportive working conditions helps recruit and retain talented educators committed to children’s success. In turn, children benefit from consistent, high-quality interactions that build the skills needed for school and life.
Kentucky tracks workforce quality through indicators such as the number of ECE-specific degrees and credentials earned, the number of scholarships awarded to educators and directors, the number of teacher leads and assistants, staff turnover rates, and the proportion of early educators trained in early literacy. Strengthening these metrics ensures that more children enter kindergarten with a solid foundation for learning, setting them on a path toward lifelong achievement.
Third grade proficiency in reading and math is a critical lagging indicator for kindergarten readiness, reflecting the long-term impact of early learning experiences on academic achievement. Students who enter kindergarten ready to learn are significantly more likely to reach proficiency or higher on third grade state assessments. In Kentucky, data from the Brigance Kindergarten Screener shows a strong correlation: children rated as “ready” or “ready with enrichments” in kindergarten consistently outperform their peers in third grade reading and math, while those not ready are more likely to score at the novice or apprentice levels.
This relationship matters because third grade marks a pivotal shift from “learning to read” to “reading to learn,” a transition that affects success across all subjects. Proficiency at this stage predicts future academic achievement, including middle and high school performance, graduation rates, and postsecondary readiness. Conversely, children who are not proficient by third grade face increased risks of grade retention, remedial coursework, and lower educational attainment.
As a lagging indicator, third grade proficiency captures the cumulative effects of children’s early environments, access to quality early care and education, and kindergarten readiness. It is an essential measure for evaluating the effectiveness of early childhood investments and identifying where supports are needed.
