Readiness testing in local school districts: an analysis of backdoor policies

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Abstract
This policy analysis of readiness testing in local school districts has three parts: (1) a summary of research on issues comprising the policy context; (2) a review of readiness test uses and validity; and (3) an analysis of policy consequences. The apparent need for districts to judge children ready or unready for school is a phenomenon of the 1980s and follows from a constellation of interconnected changes: major (and inappropriate) shifts in the kindergarten curriculum, dramatic increases in kindergarten retention, a middleclass trend to redshirt children so that as six-year-olds they will have an advantage in kindergarten, and the promulgation of readiness checklists in the popular press. Readiness tests and developmental screening measures can be distinguished both as to content and purpose, but in practice they are often used interchangeably. The content of academic readiness tests is questionable given recent research in emergent literacy and cognitive psychology. Developmental tests are not appreciably different from IQ measures yet one set of measures is politically acceptable and the other is not. None of the available measures is sufficiently accurate to support special placement decisions for individual children such as two-year kindergarten programs or delayed school entry. Many of the policies associated with readiness testing have evolved without considered debate, hence the reference to ‘backdoor’ policies. Unconsidered policy consequences include: assignment of children to ineffective special programs like transition rooms, reinstitution of tracking, exaggerated age and ability differences, further escalation of curriculum, and teaching to the test. Several major national reports have suggested curricular changes that would improve learning for all children and make it unnecessary to screen any children out of school.