Academic Skills

When assessing children's readiness for kindergarten, much of the discussion is focused on the emergence of basic academic skills, including reading, writing, and arithmetic, which are commonly referred to as the “three Rs” (United States Department of Education, 2001). This is likely because upon entering kindergarten, academic skills—such as literacy and numeracy—predict later academic success. 

Readingedit

Reading is an important skill as reading ability during primary school predicts academic achievement and later success. Therefore, particular emphasis is usually placed upon the development of literacy skills for preschool and kindergarten students to prepare them for the future. Children are not expected to read upon entering kindergarten. However, they are expected to have phonemic and phonological awareness, as well as a knowledge of print. Phonemic awareness is the first step in learning to read; it refers to the ability to hear and manipulate the smallest forms of language known as phonemes. Phonemic awareness upon entering kindergarten is the strongest predictor of reading success. Once a child understands phonemes, the next step is to develop phonological awareness, which is the ability to recognize that there is a relationship between sounds and letters, and letters and words. Phonological awareness strongly predicts the development of literacy skills. Upon entering kindergarten, children should also be able to recognize their own name in print, know how to handle a book, recognize letters, and identify words that rhyme. These are all predictors of literacy success.

Another important aspect of reading development is the understanding of narrative structures, which lends to better comprehension skills. Vocabulary development is closely associated with comprehension skills; those with weaker vocabularies may have difficulties following narratives. 

Writingedit

Upon entering Kindergarten, children typically make attempts to write their own name and letters that have been dictated, and are able to master some of the letters (NCLD, Pianta). In order to write letters, children must be able to integrate auditory information (what sound the letter makes) and orthographic skills (knowledge of letters and print convention). Children's developing ability to write letters is related to later literacy outcomes such as reading compression and spelling (Pianta). However, during the transition into Kindergarten the primary focus in terms of relevant writing skills involves the physical ability to draw (i.e., motor skills). Kindergarten aged students can typically draw pictures of themselves and their families and use a variety of different sized lines and shapes in their drawings (NCLD).

Arithmeticedit

In general, children are expected to have knowledge of numbers to demonstrate kindergarten readiness. Children generally should be able to count to at least 10, count about 5 objects, demonstrate knowledge of adding or taking away objects, and identify basic shapes, such as triangles, circles, and squares (NCLD, 2006). Recent studies in Australia have suggested that children know much more mathematics than kindergarten teachers would expect upon beginning kindergarten. In general, children should demonstrate problem-solving, spatial reasoning, and calculation abilities. Children engage in nonverbal calculation at early ages; however the transition from nonverbal to verbal calculation does not take place until approximately five and half years of age (Mix, Huttenlocher, & Levine, 2002). Therefore, preschool children, including those entering kindergarten, should have a sense of quantitative reasoning. The transition to verbal problem-solving does not occur until they become familiar with conventional symbols (p. 112).

Mathematical knowledge during preschool predicts later school success. However, preschool and kindergarten students in low-income settings have been shown to have significantly less developed mathematical skills than students from middle-income homes. As such, particular attention has been given to developing math interventions.