Kindergarten readiness assessments point to 'alarming' trend in central Ohio

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) – For the first time, a Franklin County nonprofit has access to data that could be an important step in addressing the kindergarten readiness crisis.

More than half the kids in Franklin County are not ready for kindergarten, but Future Ready Five along with partners including the city of Columbus are hoping to change that.

Future Ready Five received funding from the city back in January, developed and carried out tests and now are getting a first look at how kindergarten readiness levels can be addressed.  

In March, 162 students across 11 early childhood centers sat down and took a test.

"We are really thinking about how to empower our educators in this space and providing them with the training and the resources for them to really elevate their profession in a way that maybe has not been done before," Future Ready Five Chief Advancement Officer Neeta Agrawal said. 

The test questions, such as spelling your name and pointing to a color, may sound simple but the answers help Future Ready Five figure out where kids are struggling and the best ways to help them.

"Not everybody knows what it means to be kindergarten-ready. But we believe if you know better, you do better," Agrawal said. 

The results from the first round of testing are coming in and Future Ready Five said some of the statistics are alarming.

"We've identified that there's a 20% gap in total scores on our assessment between black and white children in ages three to five. And so that's a pretty significant gap," Future Ready Five CEO Mario Basora said. 

The data shows that in every category white children performed better than black and mixed-race children, sometimes by as much as 30%.

"It's kind of sad and disheartening to be honest with you, heartbreaking that turns out that there are significant racial disparities as low as three, four and five years old," Basora said. 

The lowest scores were in the ability to recognize parts of sentences and words, as well as vocabulary and oral language. Future Ready Five said these two are fundamental to successfully learning to read.  

"If a child is not ready for kindergarten, oftentimes they may not be ready for the third-grade reading guarantee or their eighth-grade assessment in high school, graduation and beyond," Agrawal said.

Now, Future Ready Five is working with parents and teachers to develop ways to improve these scores,  including with training sessions.

The goal is to expand this program in the fall to 500 students. The idea is by 2030 it will blanket the entire county and be able to help every child who is struggling.