How prepared are today's pre-k students? We surveyed kindergarten expectations of pre-k and kindergarten educators and compared those expectations to the current practices in pre-k classrooms today.

1. 2016 State of Kindergarten
Readiness
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Pre-K Administrators: What You Need to Know

2. About the Research
Abrams Learning Trends, an educational publisher, surveyed more than 300 pre-kindergarten and
kindergarten teachers and administrators affiliated with the National Association for the Education of
Young Children (NAEYC) in the fall of 2015.
Participants were each given a 20-question survey, specific to their area of expertise, with questions
related to the subject of kindergarten readiness.
The surveyed teachers and administrators worked in a variety of educational settings, including public,
private, and parochial schools. The survey was issued over a 3-day period on-site at NAEYC’s 2015
Annual Conference and Expo (Orlando, Florida).
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3. Participants Were Divided into Four Groups
Pre-K
Teachers
Kindergarten
Administrators
Kindergarten
Teachers
Pre-K
Administrators
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4. Are today’s pre-k graduates fully prepared for
kindergarten?
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5. According to Pre-K Teachers...
67% say that more than half of their
students graduate ready for
kindergarten.
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6. According to Kindergarten Teachers...
Only 39% say more than half of their
students enter school kinder-ready.
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7. Struggling Kindergartners
57% of kindergarten administrators and 61% of
kindergarten teachers say half or more of their
students are struggling.
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8. Today’s Pre-K students might not be as ready as
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Pre-K educators believe.

9. What skills do Pre-K teachers value most and
spend the most time teaching in the classroom?
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10. Social-Emotional Development
66% of pre-k teachers and administrators say social-emotional development is the most important predictor
of kindergarten readiness.
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Which skill area is the most important in predicting kindergarten readiness?

11. Social-Emotional Development
70% of pre-k teachers spend the majority of their time on social-emotional development.
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On which skill area do you spend the most instructional time?

12. While social-emotional development is vital to a
Pre-K student’s success, kindergarten readiness is
made up of much more.
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13. The Two Parts of Kindergarten Readiness
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Developmental Readiness
● Social-Emotional Development
● Language Development
● Gross & Fine Motor Skills
Academic Readiness
● Emergent Reading
● Mathematics
● Content Areas

14. The Current State of Unbalance
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On which skill area do you spend the most instructional time?
As indicated by the 96% of pre-k classrooms where academic readiness skills are not the top instructional
priority, it’s possible that on any given day a pre-k classroom could be devoid of foundational lessons in
reading, mathematics, and the content areas.

15. The Current State of Unbalance
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Percentage of Pre-K Classroom Time Spent on Key Skill Areas
Only 4% of pre-k teachers prioritize academic readiness skill areas.

16. Time is of the Essence
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With a finite number of hours each day, pre-k teachers are susceptible to falling into the trap of tackling their
to-do list in a linear fashion. When already pressed for time, many default to covering skills they know best,
which means critical academic readiness skills are often left untouched.

17. Weaving Skills Together is Key
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Rather than trying to cover more faster, the answer to doing it
all in the pre-k classroom is integrating skills together in such a
way that teachers can cover the developmental readiness skills
they value with the academic readiness skills kindergarten
teachers need.
How do you integrate your instruction?
Click here to download 3
sample lessons.

18. Download the Full Report
2016 State of Kindergarten Readiness
Download the full, 16-page report now to gain
valuable insights into the current state of
kindergarten readiness.
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