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First statewide kindergarten readiness assessment: MSDE reports entry skill variation by LEA and subgroup
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Summary
MSDE released results from the new KRA (STAR Early Literacy, STAR Math, SABERS): established literacy skills at kindergarten entry were 57% statewide, math established skills 55.3%, with LEA ranges (literacy 33.3%–75.2%). MSDE emphasized immediate teacher access to platform reports and recommended using SABERS with parent conferences.
MSDE presented results from Maryland’s first statewide Kindergarten Readiness Assessment (KRA), a multi‑component measure using Renaissance’s STAR Early Literacy, STAR Math, and the SABERS (social, academic, emotional, behavioral risk screener) observational survey.
Administration timeline: training occurred in August with the testing window from Aug. 1 through Oct. 10; individual student reports were delivered to districts in November and official MSDE deliverables were provided in December after matching attendance records. The platform offers immediate reporting to teachers at the time of administration.
Key results announced: for the literacy component MSDE reported 57 percent of entering kindergarten students statewide demonstrated “established” skills (range by LEA 33.3%–75.2%). For math, 55.3 percent demonstrated established skills (LEA range 35.3%–71.0%). MSDE noted variation by student groups (students with disabilities, multilingual learners, economically disadvantaged students). Spanish literacy assessments were available and used when appropriate; MSDE combined language versions for math but separated literacy results by language when measuring English vs. Spanish literacy.
On SABERS, MSDE reported 79% of students as low risk, 15.9% some risk, and 5.2% high risk, consistent with typical MTSS distributions. MSDE recommended districts interpret behavioral screener results as part of conferences with families rather than out of context.
Next steps: optional winter and spring reassessments are available to LEAs for progress monitoring; MSDE will continue to provide technical assistance, encourage local use of results for instructional planning, and pursue integration with preK enrollment data to track longitudinal progress.
Quote from presentation: "We are at 57% for the all student group across the literacy piece for showing up with established percentage of established skills." — Tim Guy (MSDE).
