Kindergarten registration starts: What does school readiness mean?

Sign up for Chalkbeat’s free weekly newsletter to keep up with how education is changing across the U.S. New federal data shows about two-thirds of the nation’s 3- to 5-year-olds are on track to enter kindergarten. But being ready for school involves a lot more than a child’s ability to count or recite their ABCs. The effort to get a snapshot of kindergarten readiness is part of the National Survey of Children’s Health, and that metric has been reported each year since 2022. Thousands of parents and guardians submitted answers about their child in five categories — early learning, motor skills, social-emotional development, self-regulation and health — with the goal of answering the big question: Is your child ready for school? While there’s growing interest in assessing school readiness, education experts differ on what to measure and how. And some dispute whether children should be ready for school or if schools should be ready for their students. Despite the complexities, it’s indi