Indicator: 25 - Children Showing Appropriate Progress              

Why This Is Important

A large and growing body of research highlights the critical relationship between early
childhood experiences and successful life-long outcomes. The responsibility for providing
support systems and resources that result in positive outcomes for young children is a shared
one. Families, early childhood teachers and caregivers, community members, health care
professionals and policymakers all contribute to the well-being of young children.

Maine does not have an agreed upon common set of measures to track children’s readiness
to enter school. This major information gap is now being addressed. Maine joined seventeen
other states in a special project funded by the Packard Foundation, the Kauffman Foundation
and the Ford Foundation; the National School Readiness Indicators Initiative. Through this
initiative, the participating states identified sets of indicators related to school readiness.
According to their report released in February 2005, the following are the core indicators that
are recommended for “Ready Children”:

• Physical Well-Being and Motor Development
• Percent of Children with Age-Appropriate Fine Motor Skills
• Social and Emotional Development
• Percent of Children Who Often or Very Often Exhibit Positive Social Behaviors
  When Interacting with Their Peers
• Approaches to Learning
• Percent of Kindergarten Students with Moderate to Serious Difficulty Following Directions
• Language Development
• Percent of Children Almost Always Recognizing the Relationships Between
  Letters and Sounds at Kindergarten Entry
• Cognition and General Knowledge
• Percent of Children Recognizing Basic Shapes at Kindergarten Entry

For more information about the National School Readiness Indicators Initiative, see www.GettingReady.org.