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Bureau of Voluntary Prekindergarten

 

  Bureau of Voluntary Prekindergarten  

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Florida Kindergarten Readiness Screener (FLKRS)

The purpose of the Florida Kindergarten Readiness Screener (FLKRS) is to gather information on a child’s overall development and to specifically address the readiness of each student for kindergarten based on the Florida Early Learning and Developmental Standards-for-Four-Year-Olds. The FLKRS is also used to calculate the VPK Provider Kindergarten Readiness Rate, which measures how well a VPK provider prepares four-year-olds to be ready for kindergarten based upon Florida Early Learning and Developmental Standards-for-Four-Year-Olds.

History of Kindergarten Screening in Florida

Kindergarten screening has long been used to give kindergarten teachers instructional information about the group of children that are entering kindergarten. Legislation was passed to enact statewide kindergarten screening for all public school kindergarten students, beginning in 1997. Prior to this, districts screened kindergarten students using district-adopted measures.

Kindergarten Screening and VPK

Section 1002.69, Florida Statutes, describes the Department of Education’s responsibilities related to statewide kindergarten screening and the calculation of VPK Provider Kindergarten Readiness Rates. This law requires that the statewide kindergarten screening be administered within the first 30 days of kindergarten. Children who participated in VPK and attend kindergarten in a non-public school are also provided opportunities to participate in the screening.

The kindergarten screening became known as, The Florida Kindergarten Readiness System (FLKRS). During Fall 2006 through Fall 2008, the (FLKRS) included a subset of the Early Childhood Observation System™ (ECHOS™) and the first two measures of the Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills™ (DIBELS™) for kindergarten (Letter Naming Fluency and Initial Sound Fluency).

Kindergarten Screening/FLKRS in 2009-10

Beginning with the 2009-10 school year, the new Florida Assessments for Instruction in Reading replaced the DIBELS™ measures of the kindergarten screening. The ECHOS™ continued to be used through 2010-11. The items included in the (FLKRS) continued to be aligned to the VPK Education Standards.

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