Kindergarten: What Schools and Children Need to Be Ready

How we define and measure kindergarten readiness has real consequences for how we welcome children, how we support families, and whether every child gets a fair start on the path to third-grade reading proficiency, high school graduation, and beyond.

In this session, we invite pre-K leaders, K –12 administrators, and district leaders to rethink the traditional framing of kindergarten readiness and explore developmentally appropriate practices that cultivate readiness on both sides of the transition — in pre-K programs sending children forward, and in kindergarten classrooms prepared to receive them.

You’ll leave with a fresh lens on what readiness really means, who’s responsible for creating it, and how your school, program, or district can stop asking “Is this child ready?” — and start asking “Are we?”

• How to reframe kindergarten readiness as a shared, reciprocal responsibility between pre-K programs and K-12 schools — and why that shift leads to better outcomes for children
• How developmentally appropriate practices, family engagement, and attendance work together to support strong transitions on both sides of the pre-K to kindergarten door
• How early literacy, math foundations, and a sense of belonging in kindergarten connect to third-grade reading proficiency, high school graduation, and lifelong success

Register now for this free summit and join us for the following two sessions as we continue the conversation on supporting student success from the very beginning.