One of the first benchmarks on the Northfield Promise cradle-to-career continuum is “Every Northfield child will be ready for kindergarten.” Until this point, however, it has been difficult to assess how we as a community are doing on this important measure.

This year, the Northfield Public Schools were selected by the Minnesota Department of Education (MDE) to participate in a pilot initiative designed to look at the kindergarten readiness of our community’s children.

This fall, with financial support from MDE, the FAST Assessment (an evidence-based, nationally normed kindergarten screening test) was administered to all incoming kindergarteners across the district. The FAST Assessment is one of four readiness measures currently being piloted across the state, and was selected by Northfield Public Schools because of its alignment with our curriculum and existing assessment framework.

Among the key findings from this fall’s assessment:

• 86% of incoming kindergarteners demonstrate most or all of early kindergarten reading skills
• 82% of incoming kindergarteners demonstrate most or all of early kindergarten math skills
• 77% of incoming kindergarteners demonstrate most or all of early kindergarten behavior skills

“The kindergarten teachers have done a great job implementing the FAST assessments,” said Mary Grace Hanson, Northfield Public Schools Director of Teaching and Learning. “We are looking forward to using this data to be ready for our incoming kindergarten students and to share with our preschool staff and early childhood providers as they prepare our children for kindergarten. We want our youngest students to have a positive beginning to their educational experience.”

Complete results will be shared with district administrators, members of the Northfield Promise Ready for Kindergarten Team, and local early childhood providers.

For more information on the kindergarten readiness assessment efforts, contact Mary Grace Hanson (mhanson@northfieldschools.org).