News Releases
Office of Governor Gary Locke
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - October 19, 2004
Contact:  Governor's Communications Office, 360-902-4136
Alt Contact:  Shirley Skidmore, Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction, 360-725-6014

Gov. Gary Locke, Superintendent of Public Instruction Unveil First-ever Statewide Kindergarten Readiness Guidelines

Gov. Gary Locke and Superintendent of Public Instruction Terry Bergeson today unveiled the first-ever statewide guidelines for kindergarten readiness to successfully prepare children for kindergarten and beyond. Locke and Bergeson outlined the Washington State Early Learning and Development Benchmarks during a news conference at the Tiny Tots Development Center in Seattle.

The goal of the voluntary guidelines is to give parents, preschool teachers and child care providers a common set of expectations of what children need to know before they enter kindergarten to ensure that they are adequately prepared for school.

“We want all Washington children ready and eager to learn when they enter school,” Locke said. “It’s vital that our kids have the proper knowledge and skills they need to succeed. If children aren’t adequately prepared for kindergarten, they often fall behind and run the risk of never catching up.”

Bergeson said, “One of my long-term goals has been to create a more seamless transition for students through our education system, so that one step clearly leads to the next. The new early learning benchmarks make it very clear how we can best prepare our young children to succeed in kindergarten and beyond. This is an exciting step forward in working together for the benefit of our kids.”

Locke and Bergeson stressed that learning must begin at home, from birth. Research from organizations like the Governor’s Commission on Early Learning, co-chaired by First Lady Mona Locke and Melinda Gates, shows that what children learn from birth to age five is extremely important to their academic, social and physical development.

The kindergarten readiness guidelines describe what children need to know and be able to do when they enter school. They cover the five primary domains of learning for young children:
·Physical health, well being and motor development;
·Social and emotional development;
·Approaches toward learning;
·Cognition and general knowledge; and
·Language and communication.

The benchmarks outline goals under each of these categories and provide examples of indicators of progress and strategies that adults can use to support development.

For example, one goal is that children understand the relationship between cause and effect. Under Cognition and General Knowledge – Logic and Reasoning, the benchmarks state that:

From birth to 18 months, children should be able to:
·Use sounds, gestures and movements to communicate with adults.
·Repeat actions many times to cause the desired effect.
·Act on an object making a pleasing sight, sound or motion.
·Look for dropped objects.
Adults are encouraged to:
·Demonstrate and explain the relationships between things – like showing children that “When you pull the drain plug, the water goes away” or “When you turn the crank, the jack pops out of the box.”
·Provide children with experiences and materials that demonstrate cause and effect relationships.

From 18 months to 36 months, children should be able to:
·Experiment with the effect of their own actions on objects.
·Observe others’ actions to see the effect they will have on objects.
·Express an understanding of cause and effect. For example, they should understand “It’s quiet because you turned off the radio.”
Adults are encouraged to:
·Play with different materials so children can see the changes. For example, demonstrate how flour and water make dough.
·Describe how objects change when acted upon. For example, explain that “the batter turns into cake” or “the water turns into ice.”

From 36 months to 60 months, children should be able to:
·Identify objects that influence or affect other objects. For example, “The sun makes the ice melt.”
·Ask “why” questions to show effort at understanding cause and effect.
·Predict the effect that an action will have on objects. For example, “It will be dark when you turn off the light.”
Adults are encouraged to:
·Encourage children to play independently, discovering cause and effect relationships on their own.
·Engage children in activities that demonstrate cause and effect, like cooking projects or planting seeds.
·Ask children about cause and effect relationships like “What does it take to make flowers grow?”

From 60 months to kindergarten entry, children should be able to:
·Structure experiments to see how changes in one factor influence changes in others. For example, mixing paint to create new colors.
·Predict how things will change, given changes in circumstances.
·Recognize which element of an object causes the effect. For example, “The beads inside the box make the noise.”
Adults are encouraged to:
·Provide children with multiple materials to create experiments.
·Talk with children about the steps taken to cause an outcome. For example, explore the steps needed to cook a meal.

“We have taken another step forward in further improving education in our state,” Locke said. “These guidelines will give children a better opportunity to succeed in school by giving parents, child care providers and preschool teachers a better understanding of what our kids should know and when.”

The development of the Washington State Early Learning and Development Benchmarks was a partnership between the Governor’s Office, the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) and the state Benchmark Advisory Panel, with grants from the Head Start-State Collaboration Office and OSPI.

The state also enlisted the help of renowned early learning expert Dr. Lynn Kagan and a team of experts from the National Center for Children and Families at Columbia University to draft the readiness guidelines.

The guidelines are preliminary, and will be reviewed and vetted through early learning stakeholder groups during the next several months. After Nov. 8, more information about the guidelines will be available at: www.governor.wa.gov/earlylearning/.

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Editor’s Note: An overview of the Washington State Early Learning and Development Benchmarks is attached.

Related Links: www.governor.wa.gov; www.k12.wa.us













WASHINGTON STATE’S EARLY LEARNING AND DEVELOPMENT BENCHMARKS
DOMAIN FRAMEWORK

DOMAIN I: PHYSICAL WELL-BEING, HEALTH, AND MOTOR DEVELOPMENT
A. Motor Development
1. Gross Motor Skills
· Children demonstrate strength and coordination of large muscles.
2. Fine Motor Skills
· Children demonstrate strength and coordination of small muscles.
3. Sensorimotor Skills
· Children use their senses (sight, hearing, smell, taste, touch) to guide motions.
B. Physical Development
1. Physical Fitness
· Children demonstrate the stamina and energy to participate in daily activities.
· Children readily engage in a variety of physical activities.
C. Health and Personal Care
1. Daily Living Skills
· Children practice basic personal care routines.
· Children demonstrate personal health and hygiene skills.
2. Nutrition
· Children demonstrate knowledge of and make nutritious food choices.
D. Safety
1. Safe Practices
· Children demonstrate knowledge of and avoid harmful objects and situations.
2. Rules and Regulation
· Children demonstrate awareness and understanding of safety rules.

DOMAIN II: SOCIAL AND EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT
A. Emotional Development
1. Self-Concept
· Children perceive themselves as separate from others.
· Children demonstrate awareness of their abilities, characteristics, and preferences.
2. Self-Efficacy
· Children demonstrate belief in their abilities and are proud of their accomplishments.
3. Self-Control
· Children understand and follow rules and routines.
· Children regulate their feelings and impulses.
4. Emotional Expression
· Children express a range of feelings appropriately.
B. Social Development
1. Interactions with Adults
· Children trust and interact easily with familiar adults.
· Children seek assistance from adults when needed.
2. Interactions with Peers
· Children develop friendships with peers.
· Children cooperate with peers.
· Children demonstrate positive negotiation skills.
3. Adaptive Social Behavior
· Children demonstrate awareness of behavior and its effects.
· Children participate positively in group activities.
· Children adapt to diverse settings.
· Children demonstrate empathy for self, others, and the natural world.
4. Appreciating Diversity
· Children recognize, appreciate, and respect similarities and differences in people.

DOMAIN III: APPROACHES TOWARD LEARNING
A. Learning Approaches
1. Curiosity and Interest
· Children are curious about and interested in learning new things and having new experiences.
2. Initiative
· Children demonstrate initiative.
3. Persistence and Attentiveness
· Children sustain attention to tasks and persist when facing challenges.
4. Creativity and Inventiveness
· Children approach daily activities with creativity and inventiveness.
5. Reflection and Interpretation
· Children learn from their experiences.

DOMAIN IV: COGNITION AND GENERAL KNOWLEDGE
A. Logic and Reasoning
1. Causation
· Children demonstrate awareness of cause and effect.
2. Critical and Analytic Thinking
· Children compare, contrast, examine, and evaluate experiences, tasks, and events.
· Children use past knowledge to build new knowledge.
3. Problem Solving
· Children find multiple solutions to questions, tasks, problems, and challenges.
4. Representational Thought
· Children use symbols to represent objects.
· Children distinguish between fantasy and reality.
B. Mathematics and Numeracy
1. Numbers and Operations
· Children demonstrate knowledge of numbers and counting.
2. Measurement
· Children demonstrate knowledge of size, volume, height, weight, and length.
3. Properties of Ordering
· Children identify and label shapes.
· Children sort, classify, and organize objects.
C. Science
1. Scientific Thinking
· Children collect information through observation and manipulation.
· Children engage in scientific inquiry; make a hypothesis, test hypothesis, form conclusions, and make predictions.
2. Scientific Knowledge
· Children observe and describe characteristics of living things.
· Children observe and describe characteristics of the earth.

D. Social Studies
1. History
· Children differentiate between events that happen in the past, present, and future.
2. Geography
· Children demonstrate awareness of location and spatial relationships.
· Children demonstrate knowledge of the relationship between people, places, and regions.
3. Economics
· Children demonstrate awareness of economic concepts.
4. Ecology
· Children demonstrate awareness of the relationship between humans and the environment.
5. Technology
· Children use technology appropriately.
E. Family, Community, and Culture
1. Family
· Children demonstrate awareness of family characteristics and functions.
2. Community
· Children demonstrate awareness of their community, human interdependence, and social roles.
· Children demonstrate civic responsibility.
3. Culture
· Children demonstrate awareness and appreciation of their own and others’ culture.
F. Creative Arts
1. Expression and Representation
· Children use creative arts to express and represent what they know, think, believe, or feel.
2. Understanding and Appreciation
· Children demonstrate understanding and appreciation of creative arts.

DOMAIN V: LANGUAGE, COMMUNICATION, AND LITERACY
A. Language
1. Vocabulary
· Children demonstrate use of receptive vocabulary.
· Children demonstrate use of expressive vocabulary.
2. Grammar and Syntax
· Children demonstrate progression in grammar and syntax.
3. Comprehension
· Children demonstrate comprehension and meaning in language.
4. Oral Language
· Children use oral language for a variety of purposes
B. Communication
1. Listening
· Children listen to and understand language.
2. Oral and Written Communication
· Children are able to communicate effectively.
3. Conventions of Social Communication
· Children understand and use the conventions of social communication.

C. Literacy
1. Reading
· Children demonstrate phonological awareness.
· Children demonstrate awareness of print concepts.
· Children demonstrate comprehension of printed material.
· Children demonstrate awareness that written materials can be used for a variety of purposes.
· Children demonstrate an appreciation and enjoyment for reading.
2. Writing
· Children demonstrate alphabet knowledge.
· Children demonstrate use of writing skills and knowledge of writing conventions.
· Children use writing for a variety of purposes.


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