According to the Florida Department of Educaton, only 36% of Escambia County kindergarteners were ready to start school for the 2024-25 school year — a 14-point drop from the previous year. The state average fell eight points, from 51% to 43%.
State law requires statewide kindergarten screening be administered within the first 30 days of kindergarten for all kindergarten students. The results of this screening provide valuable information about a child’s readiness for school, help teachers plan instruction to meet each child’s individual needs and offer useful information to parents.
In past years, the Florida Kindergarten Readiness Screener (FLKRS) was the screening tool utilized for this purpose. However, in 2022-2023, Florida adopted a statewide Coordinated Screening and Progress Monitoring System known as the Florida Assessment of Student Thinking (FAST) Star Early Literacy. FAST Star Early Literacy now serves as the kindergarten screener.
Change: For the 2023-24 school year, a score of 690 on the FAST Star Early Literacy Assessment is equivalent to a score of 500 on the FLKRS Star Early Literacy Assessment. Results are based on the first assessment administered to each student.
- Beginning with the 2024-2025 school year, pursuant to State Board of Education Rule 6M-8.622, F.A.C., “Kindergarten Readiness” is defined as meeting the expected developmental learning outcome as demonstrated by children scoring a Unified Scaled Score (USS) of 707 or higher on end-of-year progress monitoring administration (PM3) at the end of a VPK program.
In 2018, Achieve Escambia set a goal of having 75% of local children kindergarten ready. We missed that one by a mile.
| 2023-24 | 2024-25 | |
| Students | 2,759 | 2708 |
| Ready | 1,366 | 973 |
| % | 50% | 36% |
Several groups took pride last year when the percentage rose to 50%, including the Studer Community Institute and the Escambia Children’s Trust.
“There are no excuses,” SCI founder Quint Studer said when he was shown the data. “We need to review our processes and initiatives and work harder.”
