School Readiness Assessments
- ASR has been conducting school readiness assessments since 2001.
- The goal is to assess children's level of readiness for kindergarten to help communities better prepare their young children for school.
- ASR developed a unique Kindergarten Observation Form, a form that teachers use to assess each child's skills in six general readiness areas.
- ASR has conducted these school readiness assessments in a wide range of counties in California including Alameda, Los Angeles, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, and San Francisco, as well as in the state of Illinois.
- In 2008, we completed a longitudinal study in San Mateo County which showed that children who had key readiness skills as they entered kindergarten performed significantly better on standardized tests of English and math years later in the third, fourth and fifth grades.
General Information regarding SRA:
Early Literacy
- Pre-school age children who have early literacy skills have been shown to be more successful in later school achievement.
- ASR has been assessing a range of early literacy programs in order to help communities to support the development of young children.
- We have evaluated the Raising A Reader program in Alameda, San Francisco, Santa Cruz, San Mateo and Santa Clara Counties.
- We have also evaluated the Bring Me A Book program in several different California counties.
First 5
- In 1998, California voters passed Proposition 10, adding a 50-cent tax to each pack of cigarettes sold to create First 5 California.
- The goal of First 5 is to improve the lives of California's young children ages 0-5 and their families.
- There are three major First 5 areas of focus: education, health services, and childcare.
- ASR has been working with First 5 commissions in several California counties including Santa Cruz, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Solano and Los Angeles in order to evaluate their efforts.
For more information about First 5 efforts, please click on the following reports:
Children's Reports
- ASR works with communities to help them assess the quality of life of the children in their community.
- The goal of the reports is to determine a baseline and a trend line in order to focus additional resources and policy initiatives on the areas that need the most attention.
- Typically, a Children's Report will contain data in key areas such as physical health, social and emotional well-being, family stability, school success, community supports, and child safety.
- Some key indicators are prenatal care, low birth weight, reading ability, poverty, foster care rates, juvenile arrests, and drug, alcohol and cigarette use.
- ASR has completed many Children's Reports, including reports for Contra Costa, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, and Nevada counties in California and the greater Flagstaff region of Arizona.
- ASR also partners with communities to create on-line Children's Reports.
For some examples of Children's Reports, please click on the following:
To see an on-line Children's Database, please visit www.kidsdata.org. The on-line indicators were created for the Lucile Packard Foundation for Children's Health to show the quality of life of children in San Mateo and Santa Clara Counties.
Child Care
- ASR works with communities to assess their child care capacity.
- The goal is to help communities provide safe, quality child care for children.
- ASR has worked with Marin, Monterey and Santa Cruz counties.
Youth
- ASR works with its partners to evaluate the success of programs created to support youth.
- The programs range from mental health projects, to after-school programs, programs to promote the development of assets for youth, and programs to decrease hate-based behavior or involvement in the juvenile justice system.
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