Most Md. Kindergartners Not School-Ready

By Lynn Olson

Baltimore

Only two out of five Maryland youngsters are fully prepared for kindergarten, according to a preliminary report presented to the state legislature and board of education last week.

The report is part of an ambitious effort to train all the state's kindergarten teachers to assess the readiness of children for formal education through observing, recording, and evaluating pupils' everyday classroom activities.

Known as the Work Sampling System, the instrument was created by a team led by Samuel J. Meisels, a University of Michigan education professor, to help teachers assess children's skills, knowledge, behavior, and academic accomplishments. Although the system is used nationally and internationally to assess students' skills in the early grades, Maryland is the first state to use it to generate information on pupil...