Md. releases results of 2021-22 Kindergarten Readiness Assessment

MARYLAND – The Maryland State Department of Education has released results of the state’s 2021-2022 Kindergarten Readiness Assessment.

The results show that all 24 local education agencies reported lower “demonstrating readiness” scores than in 2019-2020 when the assessment was last administered. Enrollment in prekindergarten last school year declined by 25%, and most students who did attend were in mainly virtual programs.

A total of 21 local education agencies, Maryland School for the Blind, and Maryland School for the Deaf administered the assessment to all kindergarteners during the first few months of school. The assessment measures students’ skills, knowledge, and behaviors across four domains: language and literacy, mathematics, social foundations, and physical well-being and motor development.

The 2021-2022 data shows the following:

• 40% of Maryland’s kindergarteners demonstrate readiness and entered classrooms prepared to fully
  participate in kindergarten, a 7-point decrease from the 2019–2020 school year.
• 33% of kindergarteners are approaching readiness and may require additional instruction based on their
  individual strengths and needs
• 27% of kindergarteners are identified as emerging on the KRA and will require targeted supports or
  interventions to be successful in kindergarten

Additionally, officials say that according to the data, of more than 60,600 children who entered kindergarten in Maryland’s public schools this year, 30% are African American and 23% are Hispanic. The data also reportedly shows that:

• 33% African American kindergarteners demonstrate readiness, compared to 54% of white
  kindergarteners. This is a decline from the previous KRA administration, which reported 42% of
  African American children demonstrated readiness and 60% of white children demonstrated readiness
• 19% of Hispanic kindergarteners demonstrate readiness, a decline from the previous administration
  (26%)

School systems reported nearly 8,000 (13%) English learners entered kindergarten this year, which is a decline from 17% in 2021-2021, although trends indicate that the number of multilingual families continues to grow. This year’s data shows that fewer English learners demonstrate readiness as compared to their English fluent peers. We’re told this represents a 34% percentage point gap, consistent with the previous KRA administration.

More on the analysis can be found here.