School Readiness

Students participate in a pre-kindergarten class at Alice M. Harte Charter School in New Orleans on Dec. 18, 2018. Charter schools, which are publicly funded and privately operated, are often located in urban areas with large back populations, intended as alternatives to struggling city schools.
Students participate in a pre-kindergarten class at Alice M. Harte Charter School in New Orleans on Dec. 18, 2018.
Gerald Herbert/AP
Early Childhood Why Parents 'Redshirt' Their Kids in Kindergarten
Parents have a number of reasons why they decide to delay their children's school entry, but it's not always a good idea.
Lydia McFarlane, July 26, 2023
5 min read
Special education teacher assisting a diverse group of elementary students in art class.
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Special Education Young Children Were Massively Overlooked for Special Education. How Will Schools Respond?
Forty percent fewer preschoolers received special education services during the pandemic. Schools deal with the fallout.
Sarah D. Sparks, October 17, 2022
6 min read
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This Spotlight will help you examine the impact of early education programs on high school performance, evaluate pre-K programs, and more.
August 1, 2022
Pre-K teacher Vera Csizmadia teaches 3-and 4-year-old students in her classroom at the Dr. Charles Smith Early Childhood Center in Palisades Park, N.J. on Sept. 16, 2021.
Pre-K teacher Vera Csizmadia teaches 3- and 4-year-old students in her classroom at the Dr. Charles Smith Early Childhood Center in Palisades Park, N.J., last month.
Mary Altaffer/AP
Early Childhood What the Research Says Preschool Enrollment Has Plunged: What That Means for School Readiness
Census data confirm that more than a million young children missed preschool during the pandemic, putting school readiness at risk.
Sarah D. Sparks, October 25, 2021
4 min read
Image shows a multi-tailed arrow hitting the bullseye of a target.
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Early Childhood Opinion Waterford Upstart on Providing Remote Learning to 90,000 Pre-K Kids
Rick Hess speaks with Dr. LaTasha Hadley of Waterford Upstart about its use of adaptive software to close gaps in kindergarten readiness.
Rick Hess, March 25, 2021
6 min read
Satiria Clayton was looking forward to her 5-year-old son Cassius starting kindergarten this year in Tempe, Ariz., but the recent spike in coronavirus cases has left her, like many other parents, worried about what to expect. "In an ideal would I would love to stay at home and teach him,” she said. “The reality is I have to send him to school."
Satiria Clayton was looking forward to her 5-year-old son Cassius starting kindergarten this year in Tempe, Ariz., but the recent spike in coronavirus cases has left her, like many other parents, worried about what to expect. "In an ideal would I would love to stay at home and teach him,” she said. “The reality is I have to send him to school."
Courtesy of Satiria Clayton
Early Childhood Will Kindergartens Be Empty This Fall?
As cases of COVID-19 continue to grow, parents around the country are struggling with whether to send their child to kindergarten this fall. Some say they won't.
Christina A. Samuels, July 7, 2020
6 min read
School & District Management What the Research Says Incoming Kindergartners Are Less Ready Than a Decade Ago
Incoming kindergartners in 2017 started school with lower early-math and -reading skills than their peers nearly a decade earlier, though some achievement gaps closed somewhat.
Sarah D. Sparks, October 8, 2019
1 min read
Early Childhood Video Academic Redshirting, and Why It’s Not So Simple
Academic redshirting has benefits and disadvantages on a child’s development that parents should keep in mind.
August 27, 2019
2:40
Early Childhood In These Laundromats, Adults Do the Wash, and Children Read (Video)
Librarians, early-literacy groups, and laundromat owners are combining forces to see if reaching out to families in places they frequent can help close the literacy gap between low- and higher-income students.
Emma Patti Harris, April 3, 2019
1 min read
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Early Childhood Opinion Should Children Be Ready for Kindergarten—Or Should Kindergarten Be Ready for Children?
Kindergarten readiness is highly subjective, but the concept has real consequences, writes Stanford University’s Deborah Stipek.
Deborah Stipek, March 25, 2019
4 min read
Early Childhood How to Help Your Child Love Reading (Video)
Parents should read to their children. That's well established. But what's the best way to do that? Here's how.
Lisa Stark, March 18, 2019
1 min read
Families & the Community Home-Visiting Successes Explored in New Reports
Federal home-visiting programs received a $2 billion infusion earlier this year. Now advocates are taking time to show how well the program works for at-risk families.
Christina A. Samuels, December 6, 2018
3 min read
Autumn Edwards and her mother, Lindsey Edwards, walk toward Prairie Mountain School, where Autumn will take part in the KITS program.
<i>A parent walks her child to kindergarten in Eugene, Ore.</i>
Amanda L. Smith for Education Week-File
Early Childhood Redshirting Debate Just Got New Fuel with ADHD Study
A study has shown more diagnoses of ADHD among kindergarten students who start school just before a Sept. 1 school enrollment cutoff date.
Christina A. Samuels, November 29, 2018
3 min read