Minnesota eyes new approach to understand kids heading into kindergarten
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The Minnesota Department of Education plans to pilot a new kindergarten assessment this fall focused on watching 4- and 5-year-olds communicate, problem-solve and play.
It is not a kindergarten readiness test and won’t test a child’s ability to read or write, but it will help state and school district leaders better understand the unique needs of kids at a pivotal developmental age, said Danielle Hayden, MDE’s early education director.
“We've never had information about our students that have been reported to the state prior to those third grade assessments, and so it's giving us a data set that we've never had access to before at the state level,” Hayden added.
The assessment will focus on four areas of learning: social-emotional, cognition, language and foundational math. MDE is working with teachers to create a framework for observation that should not disrupt a student’s learning.
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Officials hope the assessment will help schools understand the needs of individual kids coming into kindergarten in ways that will support them as they leave childcare and enter a more structured learning environment.
“It's not the same as a lot of assessments where a child sits down with a paper and pencil, or goes through a bunch of activities on an iPad or the Chromebook,” Hayden said. “This is really meant to be done over the course of several days and weeks — of a teacher just observing children as they move through their routines and regular activities in their classroom.”
Hayden said the information teachers glean from the assessment may not be new, but it will provide insights into the foundational skills of kindergarten-age children.
The pilot this fall includes 45 districts and 70 schools, including some charter schools. MDE wants to begin the program statewide in the 2027-28 school year.
“Our hope is that over time we build on and improve on districts' transition processes for this kindergarten year,” Hayden said. “We're really hoping that over time too we'll start talking about our children in a developmental way rather than a readiness way.”
