Kindergarten Assessment

Kindergarten Assessment Redesign Update

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The redesigned Kindergarten Assessment (KA) Advisory Panel began meeting January 2022. The panel will continue to meet every quarter until the end of 2024.

Panel Composition

The 2022-2024 panel is composed of kindergarten and preschool educators, early learning directors, and researchers with expertise in early learning assessment practices. Oregon Department of Education (ODE)'s selection process ensured that panel members have:

a strong equity lens
represent Oregon's diverse communities, including those who identify as Black, Indigenous, Latin (o/a/x) and other people of color
represent different regions around the state
have experience delivering the Kindergarten Assessment and/or have used the Kindergarten Assessment data to inform classroom practices and educational systems

Planning for Fall 2022

What we know with certainty is that the Fall 2022 "KA" will look different than it has historically. It will also be designed to serve a single purpose. In November 2021, Colt Gill, Director of the Oregon Department of Education and Alyssa Chatterjee, Director of the Early Learning Division, gave an update to the Oregon State Legislature House interim Committee on Early Childhood about our proposed ideas. The presentation begins at the 7:40 mark and lasts about 35 minutes.

Kindergarten Assessment (Suspended for 2021-22)

The State Board of Education extended the suspension of the Kindergarten Assessment (KA) through the 2021-22 school year due to both the pandemic and concerns related to its design and implementation. ODE and ELD are committed to engaging education and community partners in the 2021-22 school year to determine how the KA should be redesigned for future administrations.

Purpose of KA 2013-2020

The Oregon Kindergarten Assessment is composed of the following three measures: Early Literacy, Early Math, and Approaches to Learning. The assessment is designed to focus on domains that are strongly linked to third grade reading and future academic success as well as to align with current assessment practices in Oregon’s Kindergarten and elementary schools. The information provides a snapshot for communities and schools on the skills that students have when they enter Kindergarten.

The Oregon Kindergarten Assessment provides:

Local and statewide information that gives families, schools, communities, and state-level policy makers a snapshot of the social, self-regulatory, and academic skills of incoming kindergartners.
A consistent, statewide tool for identifying systemic opportunity gaps, determining Early Learning resource allocation to best support students in need, and measure improvement over time.

Resources

2019-20 Parent Brochure:

A Research Perspective on Oregon's Kindergarten Assessment

Archived Materials

Assessment

Kindergarten Assessment - Specifications (updated 07/02/19)KA Specifications provide guidelines for Oregon teachers on what content may be assessed on Oregon's Kindergarten Assessment. Data Collection Resources

Interpretive Guidance

School Year 2019-20

School Year 2018-19

School Year 2017-18

Linking Oregon Kindergarten Assessment and Grade 3 Academic Assessment Results (To access explanatory information for each graph, click on the comment icon in the upper left-hand corner)
2017-18 Approaches to Learning Group Interpretive Guidance Continuum
2017-18 Early Literacy Interpretive Guidance

School Year 2016-17

2016-17 Group Interpretive Guidance Continuum

School Year 2015-16

Executive Summary for Interpretive Guidance
Overview Report for Interpretive Guidance

Group Interpretive Guidance Continuum

School Year 2014-15

Kindergarten Assessment Report Overview
This document provides a description of the Kindergarten Assessment's segments and goals, as well as suggested uses for the data and cautions in interpreting the results.

Results

These reports show the school, district, and state level results from the Oregon Kindergarten Assessment.

The Look-Back report is an update to the Kindergarten Assessment Results and includes disaggregated student results for three additional student groups: Economically Disadvantaged students, Limited English Proficient students, and Students with Disabilities. Data aggregation is based on Third Period Cumulative ADM Collections (data verified in August of the following year). This report also contains the previously-reported disaggregated data by student gender and ethnicity.