A r c h i v e d I n f o r m a t i o n

Achieving the Goals: Goal 1--All Children in America Will Start School Ready to Learn

Goal One Update:

A Report from the National Education Goals Panel

In 1990 the President and 50 state Governors established National Education Goals, the first of which is that "by the year 2000 all children in America will start school ready to learn." In the ensuing years, this Goal has been colloquially dubbed the "readiness" Goal and has generated public policy debate at the federal, state, and local levels; in the public and private sectors; and in the media, schools, and homes.

Much attention has been focused both on the Goal itself and on the three objectives accompanying the Goal statement that reflect a broad concern with children's early development and learning. The objectives, concerned with the conditions of the institutions that affect such development -- families, preschool programs, health care systems, schools -- are:

All children will have access to high quality and developmentally appropriate preschool programs that help prepare children for school;
Every parent in the United States will be a child's first teacher and devote time each day helping his or her preschool child learn, and parents will have access to the training and support parents need;
Children will receive the nutrition, physical activity experiences, and health care needed to arrive at school with healthy minds and bodies, and to maintain the mental alertness necessary to be prepared to learn, and the number of low-birth weight babies will be significantly reduced through enhanced prenatal health systems.

Taken together, the goal and the objectives are significant in a number of respects. While they affirm that parents have primary responsibility for the well being of their children, they also acknowledge that society has a responsibility to help where needed.

Second, the Goal and its attendant objectives acknowledge that all children -- not simply some -- are entitled to early experiences that will foster their optimal development.

Third, the Goal and objectives tacitly acknowledge that narrowly constructed, academically-driven definitions of readiness -- heretofore widely accepted -- need to be broadened to incorporate physical, social, and emotional well-being. Finally, the goal and its objectives affirm the connection between early development and learning, and children's later success in school and in life.

As could be expected, such a landmark statement -- which carries Presidential and gubernatorial sanction -- has also provoked considerable activity. Some efforts have been devoted to the improvement of direct services for young children and their families, including initiatives undertaken by the National Governors' Association, executive branches of federal and state governments, schools, communities, professional associations, and parent groups. Other efforts have attempted to improve and integrate the systems that affect children's early development. Still others have sought to delineate more clearly what is meant by optimal outcomes for children. And finally, some have sought new approaches to chronicle children's development appropriately and inventively.

Although committed to fostering all four approaches (improving direct services, improving systems, delineating optimal outcomes, and chronicling progress), the work of the National Education Goals Panel has been focused on the third and fourth approaches. In fact, the National Education Goals Panel has been charged with chronicling the nation's progress toward meeting all of the Goals over a ten-year period, from 1990 to 2000. To that end, the National Education Goals Panel has established a Resource Group and at least one Technical Planning Group for each Goal.

Goal 1 Resource and Technical Planning Groups' Work to Date

The Goal 1 Resource and Technical Planning Groups were asked to suggest data by which progress towards Goal 1 could be measured. Two kinds of information were recommended: first, direct indicators of the Goal, reflecting how children are doing, and capturing their welfare and resiliency in the face of risk; and second, direct indicators of the objectives, reflecting the quality of services afforded young children. The Groups recognize the importance of both kinds of information and have been working to put mechanisms in place that will collect such information at three points in time: before school, upon entry to school, and in school. To hasten the realization of these efforts, the Technical Planning Group was asked by the Goals Panel to focus its work on conceptualizing an in-school assessment that focused on child outcomes.

Recognizing the wide range of abilities and experiences upon which early learning and development rests, the Technical Planning Group suggested that early development and learning embrace five dimensions: (1) physical well-being and motor development; (2) social and emotional development; (3) approaches toward learning; (4) language development; and (5) cognition and general knowledge.

Refining the Definition of the Five Dimensions of Early Development and Learning

The purpose of Reconsidering Children's Early Development and Learning: Toward Common Views and Vocabulary (National Education Goals Panel, 1995) is to lend greater specificity to each of the dimensions conceptualized in the 1991 report on school readiness with the goal of ultimately achieving a common vocabulary that expresses current knowledge and common views about the needs of children and the nature of their development. It is hoped that such amplified definitions will further the dialogue regarding how best to foster children's healthy development. This paper uses as points of departure the available research (though the document is not intended to be a review of the research), a series of commissioned papers, and synthesis of the Technical Planning Group's work. Where research is incomplete, this paper reflects the collective best judgment of the members of the Group.

This document represents not only the work of the Goal 1 Technical Planning Group, but the input of hundreds of individuals who took the time to comment on the original draft. Five considerations exist regarding the dimensions. (1) Though presented separately for the sake of clarity, the five dimensions are interrelated. (2) The availability of scholarly work to assist in amplifying the dimensions varies tremendously by dimension. (3) Offering amplified definitions of the dimensions of early development and learning should not be equated with assessing the dimensions. (4) Families and communities are critical in children's early learning and development. (5) Youngsters demonstrate individuality related to genetic, cultural, and contextual factors; as such, individual, cultural, and contextual variables cannot be attributed to any single dimension.

The report concludes by examining issues that underlie its definitional analysis and that must be addressed as a prelude to any reappraisal of our current approach to early care and education. Then, it identifies preliminary implications of the Technical Planning Group's work for assessment, practice, and policy. Finally, it suggests specific action steps based on these implications for future work in early development and learning.

Early Childhood Assessment

Section 207 of P.L. 103-227 directs the Goals Panel to support the work of its Resource and Technical Planning Groups on School Readiness to improve the methods of assessing the readiness of children for school that would lead to alternatives to currently used early childhood assessments.

Accordingly, a Ready Schools Resource Group has been asked to make explicit the elementary school characteristics and policies it had in mind as necessary to accommodate incoming children. The Resource Group is preparing a short paper to be released in early 1996 for teachers, principals and policy makers on (1) the nature of pedagogy and instruction in the K-3 classrooms of a ready school; (2) the structure and policies of ready elementary schools; (3) the relationship of ready school to families and communities; and the links of ready schools with pre-school programs.

In accordance with the legislative charge, the Goals Panel has convened an Early Childhood Assessments Resource Group to create guidelines regarding the nature, functions, and uses of early childhood assessments, including assessment formats that are appropriate for use in culturally diverse communities, based on model elements of school readiness; monitor and evaluate early childhood assessments, including the ability of existing assessments to provide valid information on the readiness of children for school; and monitor and report on the long-term collection of data on the status of young children to improve policy and practice, including the need for new sources of data necessary to assess the broad range of early childhood developmental needs. The groups will advise and assist the Congress, the Secretary of Education, the Goals Panel, and others regarding how to improve the assessment of young children and how such assessments can improve services to children.
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[Introduction]

[U.S. Department of Agriculture]