Whether this is your first or tenth child attending kindergarten, it never gets easier! The anxiety of being separated from you and having to deal with a new, more structured environment can be overwhelming for any child. Now, on top of all that, your kids must first take a Kindergarten assessment or screening… oh no, a test!?
How do you prepare? What can you do to help your child succeed? Well, here’s the good news: any assessment test your child takes won’t determine placement or impact your child’s educational career. Such surveys are merely tools educators use to gauge incoming students’ current learning and developmental levels. However, that doesn’t mean you should have your kids go into an assessment completely unprepared. There are some things your children should know and understand that will help them with their assessment and their first few years of school. Here are some helpful tips for preparing your child and yourself for kindergarten and potential assessments, courtesy of PALS Praise & Leadership Schools.
What is KIDS?
KIDS stands for the Kindergarten Individual Development Survey, and it’s an observational tool designed to assist teachers, administrators, and families in better grasping the development readiness of children about to enter kindergarten. Many states utilize similar assessments, but KIDS is Illinois’ version of such surveys.
While every school program will have different ways for testing the progression of students, each test can fit into the mold of KIDS, allowing teachers to ascertain a more detailed assessment of a child, their abilities, and their developmental level. KIDS covers a total of 14 measures that determine “state readiness.” These measures are divided into four learning domains and three developmental areas focused on math, language, literacy, social, and emotional development.
After 40 days of assessment, the results of KIDS are sent to the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE), where they are compiled and sent back to schools. That data is then used to understand the learning and support necessary for an incoming class of kindergarteners.
Why Does it Matter?
Although, as parents, you won’t see the individual KIDS assessment results, compiled data highlighting the percentage of students demonstrating kindergarten readiness is available for everyone to see. Also, the data collected from KIDS is crucial for your children’s school and how they approach teaching. KIDS data helps inform school districts of early childhood education’s strengths and opportunities. As such, teachers can make better decisions about the lessons they provide, the resources they use, and the areas of education they should focus on most.
What Can Parents Do?
As parents, you want to ensure your children are as prepared as possible for anything they face. So, it might pain you to know that there’s little you or your child can “specifically” do to prepare for a KIDS assessment. But don’t fret; KIDS is not the sort of test or survey you can have your child study for. In fact, the point of KIDS is to gauge their current developmental and education level to inform teachers. There are no placements to earn or individual scores to be judged during a KIDS assessment. However, just because you can’t prepare for KIDS itself doesn’t mean you can’t prepare your children for kindergarten as a whole. There are some things you can do to ensure your children go into their first day of kindergarten ready for anything:
- Teach Your Child the Basics – While no one expects your child to be a master of knowledge when entering kindergarten, there are at least a few basics your child should know before going to school. For example, your child should understand how to use a pencil, crayons and scissors. They should also know their full name, the names of their parents, where they live, basic manners, and some self-care tasks like using the toilet, putting away toys, washing hands, etc.
- Immerse Your Child in the English Language – By now, your child has hopefully learned how to talk and adequately communicate with others. As such, learning to read and write is the next obvious progression for your kids. While kindergarten will help them learn these skills, you can at least begin familiarizing your children with English. Do so by reading to your child, matching words with pictures, and having them practice writing letters. Having a base of knowledge to go off will help immensely when your child begins learning to read and write in full.
- Give Your Child Plenty of Chances to Socialize – Going to kindergarten is a big step for any child, especially considering the massive influx of people they are about to meet. Frankly, such an increase in socialization can be challenging for anyone to bear, your kids included! What you can do for your children so they don’t feel overwhelmed on their first day of kindergarten is slowly having them interact with other adults and kids before starting school. If your children know what to expect and are comfortable around others, school won’t seem so scary.
- Allow Your Child to Be More Independent – Your kids aren’t going to be under your wing forever! While plenty of time is left after kindergarten, where your children will solely rely on you, they must at least begin building some semblance of independence. Doing so will give your children the confidence they need to take on new tasks and meet new people, much like they will be doing at the start of their educational journey and throughout. Start by letting your kids do simple things themselves, like putting on shoes, buttoning up shirts, opening snack pouches, washing their hands, etc.
Do Additional Preparation with PALS
One of the additional things you can do to help prepare your children for kindergarten and the KIDS assessment is to enroll them in PALS! At PALS Praise & Leadership Schools, we focus on physical and cognitive development, instilling greater confidence and expanding the learning capacity of our students. By attending preschool through PALS, your children will obtain the skills and knowledge they need for a successful and productive educational career. Call PALS at 309-674-2938 (Downtown Peoria) or 309-691-4326 (North Peoria) to schedule a tour of our facilities.
