MEASURING PROGRESS. BUILDING CONFIDENCE.
What Our Teaching Strategies GOLD® Results Show About Kindergarten Readiness
How do you know whether a child is truly getting ready for kindergarten?
It is one of the most important questions families ask during the Preschool and Pre-K years.
Knowing letters matters. Counting matters. Writing matters.
But kindergarten readiness is much bigger than ABCs and 123s.
Children are also learning how to listen and follow directions, communicate their ideas, manage emotions, cooperate with classmates, stay engaged, solve problems, tell stories, work independently, and confidently participate in a classroom.
At The Weston School, we believe families deserve more than a promise that their child is learning.
We want to understand their progress.
That is why our educators use Teaching Strategies GOLD® as part of our approach to observing development, understanding individual growth, and making intentional instructional decisions.
During our most recent Spring–Summer checkpoint, we reviewed results from 245+ Pre-K students across The Weston School centers across 10 selected developmental dimensions connected to kindergarten readiness.
And the results give our educators—and our families—a lot to celebrate.
A 94% Average Meeting or Exceeding Expectations Across 10 Readiness Measures
Across the 10 selected Teaching Strategies GOLD® dimensions reviewed during this checkpoint, the percentage of students meeting or exceeding widely held expectations ranged from 89% to 98%.
When those 10 reported percentages are averaged together, the result is:
93.9% — Rounded to 94%
That is encouraging.
But the percentage alone is not the most important part of the story.
What matters most is what those numbers represent:
Children learning to regulate emotions.
Children working cooperatively with others.
Children listening and following increasingly complex directions.
Children recognizing letters and connecting them with sounds.
Children telling stories.
Children writing their names.
Children counting.
Children focusing, communicating, trying, practicing, and growing.
That is kindergarten readiness in action.
10 Kindergarten Readiness Skills We Measured
Our Spring–Summer checkpoint included 10 selected Teaching Strategies GOLD® dimensions that provide insight into important social-emotional, language, literacy, cognitive, and mathematics skills.
1. Manages Feelings — 91%
Children are learning to recognize, express, and manage emotions in increasingly appropriate ways.
Kindergarten brings new routines, expectations, relationships, and challenges. Children benefit from developing the ability to communicate what they are feeling, recover after frustration, accept support, and return their attention to learning.
91% of students were meeting or exceeding widely held expectations in this area.
2. Balances the Needs and Rights of Self and Others — 95%
Kindergarten is a community.
Children need opportunities to practice taking turns, sharing space and materials, communicating with peers, understanding that other people have needs too, and solving everyday social problems.
95% of students were meeting or exceeding widely held expectations for cooperative social participation.
Strong social skills help children become not only more confident students—but better classmates.
3. Follows Directions — 98%
One of the strongest results from this checkpoint was in following directions.
98% of students were meeting or exceeding widely held expectations.
Following multi-step directions requires children to listen, process information, remember what comes next, and act on what they heard.
Those skills support nearly every part of the kindergarten day—from participating in lessons to transitioning between activities and completing classroom tasks.
4. Uses Conventional Grammar — 93%
Language gives children a way to learn, connect, ask questions, tell stories, solve problems, and express what they understand.
93% of students were meeting or exceeding widely held expectations for using age-appropriate grammar.
As children’s communication skills grow, they become increasingly capable of participating in conversations, explaining experiences, expressing ideas, and interacting confidently with teachers and classmates.
5. Attends and Engages — 90%
Children learn by becoming engaged in meaningful experiences.
90% of students were meeting or exceeding widely held expectations for attending and engaging.
Kindergarten readiness does not mean expecting young children to sit quietly for long periods of time.
Instead, children are developing the ability to become interested in an activity, stay involved, listen, explore, ask questions, persist, and return their attention when redirected.
Those learning behaviors matter long after kindergarten.
6. Identifies and Names Letters — 98%
Letter recognition is an important foundation for early reading and writing.
98% of students were meeting or exceeding widely held expectations for identifying and naming uppercase and lowercase letters.
As children begin recognizing letters throughout their environment, they start understanding that printed symbols have meaning.
That foundation prepares them for increasingly complex literacy instruction.
7. Uses Letter-Sound Knowledge — 98%
Recognizing a letter is one step.
Understanding that letters represent sounds takes that learning further.
98% of students were meeting or exceeding widely held expectations for letter-sound knowledge.
These early phonics skills help children begin connecting spoken language with written language—an important foundation for the reading instruction they will experience in kindergarten and beyond.
8. Retells Stories — 89%
89% of students were meeting or exceeding widely held expectations for retelling stories.
Story retelling requires children to use several skills at once.
They must listen.
Remember information.
Understand sequence.
Recognize important details.
Organize their thoughts.
Then communicate those ideas back to someone else.
This was the lowest percentage among the 10 selected dimensions—which is exactly why assessment is valuable.
Assessment should not only tell educators what children already do well.
It should help us identify where continued instruction, conversation, modeling, reading experiences, and practice can support the next stage of development.
9. Writes Name — 93%
93% of students were meeting or exceeding widely held expectations for writing their name.
Writing a name involves much more than memorizing letters.
Children are bringing together letter knowledge, memory, visual awareness, fine-motor development, hand strength, pencil control, and an understanding that written symbols communicate meaning.
Drawing, coloring, cutting, building, manipulating materials, and using writing tools all help strengthen the physical and cognitive foundation for writing.
10. Counts — 94%
94% of students were meeting or exceeding widely held expectations for counting to 10 and beyond.
Early mathematics is not just about memorizing the number sequence.
Children develop mathematical thinking through hands-on experiences with counting, quantities, patterns, shapes, sorting, comparing, measuring, building, and problem-solving.
Those experiences help children understand what numbers mean—not simply how to recite them.
What Does “Meeting or Exceeding Widely Held Expectations” Mean?
Teaching Strategies GOLD® uses developmental progressions to help educators understand children’s knowledge, skills, and behaviors across different areas of development.
“Widely held expectations” refer to developmental skills and behaviors commonly expected for children within particular age ranges and developmental stages.
Meeting or exceeding those expectations is not the same as earning a school grade.
And it does not mean every child should develop at exactly the same pace.
Young children can demonstrate different strengths across different developmental areas.
One child may show advanced language skills while still developing self-regulation.
Another may demonstrate strong mathematical reasoning while continuing to strengthen storytelling or fine-motor skills.
That is why early childhood assessment should look at the whole child.
Kindergarten Readiness Is Not a Pass-or-Fail Test
The 94% figure from this checkpoint should be understood correctly.
It represents the average of the reported meeting-or-exceeding percentages across these 10 selected developmental dimensions.
It should not be interpreted to mean that 94% of individual students “passed kindergarten readiness” or that every student represented in that figure individually met all 10 measures at the same time.
Kindergarten readiness is not one score.
It is not one test.
And it is not one moment in time.
It is a developmental process.
Assessment gives our educators another tool for understanding where children are now so we can make more informed decisions about where to help them go next.
Why The Weston School Uses Assessment
Assessment should do more than produce numbers.
It should inform teaching.
At The Weston School, developmental information helps our educators better understand:
- where children are demonstrating strong progress,
- where continued practice may be helpful,
- which children may benefit from additional support,
- where additional challenge may be appropriate,
- and which classroom experiences may help create the next opportunity for growth.
The goal is never simply to compare one child with another.
The goal is progress.
That creates an ongoing cycle:
Observe → Understand → Teach → Communicate → Grow
When educators understand what children already know and can do, they can make learning experiences more intentional.
Why Social-Emotional Development Matters Just as Much as Academics
Parents understandably ask questions like:
“Does my child know their letters?”
“Can they write their name?”
“How high can they count?”
Those are important questions.
But kindergarten teachers also need children who are developing the ability to:
- listen,
- communicate,
- participate in a group,
- take turns,
- manage frustration,
- follow routines,
- ask for help,
- solve problems,
- stay engaged,
- build friendships,
- and increasingly do things independently.
That is why kindergarten readiness is whole-child readiness.
Academic skills matter.
Social-emotional skills matter.
Communication matters.
Physical development matters.
Independence matters.
Curiosity matters.
They work together.
Preschool and Pre-K Build Kindergarten Readiness Over Time
Children do not suddenly begin preparing for kindergarten a few months before elementary school starts.
The foundation is built gradually.
A toddler develops language through everyday conversation.
A preschooler begins understanding classroom routines and cooperative play.
Children develop early mathematics by counting blocks, sorting objects, recognizing patterns, comparing sizes, and solving puzzles.
They develop literacy through books, songs, rhymes, conversation, storytelling, drawing, letter exploration, and writing.
They develop self-regulation through nurturing relationships, predictable routines, practice, and guidance.
They develop confidence by trying something difficult and discovering that they can keep going.
Every stage builds on what came before it.
That is why The Weston School approaches early childhood education as a developmental journey—not simply childcare until kindergarten begins.
Learning Through Experience, Academics and Play
At The Weston School, children learn through a combination of intentional instruction, hands-on exploration, social interaction, classroom routines, teacher-guided experiences, and purposeful play.
Our LEAP approach—Learning through Experience, Academics and Play— helps children build foundational skills while preserving one of the most powerful learning tools young children have: curiosity.
Preschool and Pre-K students are given opportunities to explore:
- early literacy,
- phonics and language,
- early mathematics,
- STEAM,
- problem-solving,
- storytelling,
- creative expression,
- fine-motor development,
- social-emotional learning,
- classroom routines,
- communication,
- and independence.
The goal is not to turn Preschool into kindergarten.
The goal is to provide developmentally appropriate experiences that help children become increasingly prepared for what comes next.
What These Results Mean for Our Teachers
The checkpoint is not the finish line.
It is information.
Our teachers can use developmental information to ask better questions:
Where are children showing strong progress?
Which skills should we continue reinforcing?
Where might an individual student need more practice?
Which students may be ready for greater challenge?
What classroom experiences can help strengthen an emerging skill?
How can we help families support that learning at home?
That is where assessment becomes meaningful.
Data should influence what happens next.
What These Results Mean for Parents
Parents should not have to wonder what learning looks like during the Preschool and Pre-K years.
Assessment helps create more meaningful conversations between home and school.
Instead of simply asking:
“Is my child doing okay?”
Families and educators can discuss specific areas of development.
How is their communication growing?
How are they interacting with other children?
Are they becoming more independent?
What early literacy skills are emerging?
What mathematical concepts are developing?
How are they managing emotions?
How long can they stay engaged?
What should we continue practicing?
Those conversations help school and home work toward the same goal.
Kindergarten Readiness at The Weston School in Central Indiana
The Weston School serves families across Central Indiana through our schools in:
Avon
Families in Avon and surrounding Hendricks County communities can access Preschool and Pre-K early childhood education focused on whole-child development and kindergarten readiness.
Indianapolis
Our Indianapolis school supports families seeking early childhood education that combines intentional learning with nurturing relationships and play-based development.
Noblesville East
The Weston School – Noblesville East serves families in Noblesville, Fishers, and nearby Hamilton County communities with Preschool and Pre-K education designed to build strong developmental foundations.
Noblesville West
Our Noblesville West school supports families in Noblesville, Westfield, and surrounding communities as children progress from early learning toward kindergarten.
Speedway
The Weston School – Speedway provides Preschool and Pre-K learning experiences for Speedway, Indianapolis, and nearby families seeking strong preparation for kindergarten and beyond.
Across every Weston School, our larger goal remains the same:
Help children build the confidence, skills, relationships, curiosity, independence, and foundational knowledge that support Success in School, Success in Life.®
What Should Parents Look for in a Kindergarten Readiness Program?
When evaluating Preschool or Pre-K options, ask more than whether children practice letters and numbers.
Consider asking:
How does the program support social-emotional development?
How are children’s developmental skills observed or assessed?
How do teachers use assessment information?
How is early literacy taught?
How is mathematical thinking developed?
How much learning happens through hands-on experiences and play?
How are children helped with classroom routines and independence?
How does the school communicate progress with families?
How are individual developmental differences supported?
The strongest kindergarten-readiness programs prepare children academically and developmentally.
The Most Important Result Is Continued Growth
We are proud of what this checkpoint shows.
But we do not believe childhood should be reduced to percentages.
Behind every number is a child.
A child who learned another letter.
A child who wrote their name.
A child who remembered what happened next in a story.
A child who solved a problem.
A child who waited their turn.
A child who became frustrated—and learned how to recover.
A child who listened to several directions and completed them.
A child who counted farther than they could before.
A child who became more confident.
That is what progress looks like.
And that is why we measure.
Not simply to know where children stand.
But to help them keep moving forward.
Ready for Kindergarten. Ready to Keep Learning.
Kindergarten readiness is not about expecting a five-year-old to already know everything kindergarten will teach.
It is about helping children walk through that classroom door with a foundation.
The confidence to participate.
The communication skills to ask for help.
The social skills to build relationships.
The independence to try.
The curiosity to explore.
The academic foundations to keep learning.
And the resilience to keep going when something is difficult.
Our Spring–Summer Teaching Strategies GOLD® checkpoint gives us another snapshot of that journey.
Across 245+ Pre-K students and 10 selected readiness dimensions, the results are encouraging.
But our work continues.
Because every checkpoint leads to the same question:
What can we help this child learn next?
Learn More About Kindergarten Readiness at The Weston School
If your child is approaching Preschool, Pre-K, or kindergarten, explore how The Weston School intentionally develops the skills children use before and during their transition to elementary school.
Learn More About Kindergarten Readiness
Or visit your nearest Weston School to meet our educators, explore the classroom environment, and talk about your child’s next stage of development.
Frequently Asked Questions About Kindergarten Readiness & Teaching Strategies GOLD®
What is Teaching Strategies GOLD®?
Teaching Strategies GOLD® is an early childhood assessment system that helps educators observe and understand children’s development and learning across multiple developmental areas. Information gathered through observation and checkpoints can help teachers identify strengths, emerging skills, and opportunities for continued learning.
What does kindergarten readiness mean?
Kindergarten readiness refers to the development of skills and behaviors that help children successfully transition into a kindergarten classroom. It includes early literacy and math as well as communication, social-emotional skills, independence, self-regulation, problem-solving, physical development, attention, and classroom participation.
What does meeting or exceeding widely held expectations mean?
Widely held expectations describe developmental knowledge, skills, and behaviors generally associated with particular ages and stages of development. A child meeting or exceeding those expectations is demonstrating development within or beyond the applicable range on the assessed objective.
Does 94% mean 94% of Weston School students passed kindergarten readiness?
No. Kindergarten readiness is not a pass-or-fail test. The reported percentages across the 10 selected Teaching Strategies GOLD® dimensions averaged 93.9%, which rounds to 94%. It is a summary of performance across those selected developmental measures, not a claim that 94% of individual children simultaneously met every measure.
What kindergarten-readiness skills were included in this checkpoint?
The 10 selected measures included managing feelings, balancing the needs of self and others, following directions, using conventional grammar, attending and engaging, identifying letters, using letter-sound knowledge, retelling stories, writing a name, and counting.
Why are social-emotional skills part of kindergarten readiness?
Children learn in a social environment. Kindergarten requires children to interact with peers and adults, follow routines, communicate their needs, manage frustration, participate in groups, and increasingly solve everyday social problems. Social-emotional skills therefore play an important role in classroom success.
Does a child need to read before entering kindergarten?
Independent reading is not the only measure of readiness. Before kindergarten, children typically develop foundations such as letter recognition, letter-sound knowledge, phonological awareness, vocabulary, print awareness, storytelling, comprehension, and early writing.
How does The Weston School help children prepare for kindergarten?
The Weston School combines intentional instruction with hands-on and play-based early childhood education. Preschool and Pre-K learning includes literacy, mathematics, STEAM, communication, problem-solving, social-emotional development, fine-motor skills, classroom routines, independence, and family partnership.
How can I learn more about my child’s kindergarten readiness?
Families can learn more by talking with their child’s educators, reviewing developmental progress, asking questions about strengths and emerging skills, reinforcing learning through everyday experiences at home, and visiting The Weston School’s Kindergarten Readiness resource.
How can I learn more about my child’s kindergarten readiness?
Families can learn more by talking with their child’s educators, reviewing developmental progress, asking questions about strengths and emerging skills, and reinforcing learning through everyday experiences at home.
For a deeper look at the academic, social-emotional, communication, independence, and classroom skills children develop before kindergarten, explore The Weston School’s Kindergarten Readiness resource.
Source & Methodology
Source: Teaching Strategies GOLD® assessment, Spring–Summer checkpoint.
This analysis includes 245+ Pre-K students across The Weston School centers and focuses on 10 selected developmental dimensions connected to kindergarten readiness:
- Managing feelings
- Balancing the needs and rights of self and others
- Following directions
- Using conventional grammar
- Attending and engaging
- Identifying and naming letters
- Using letter-sound knowledge
- Retelling stories
- Writing their name
- Counting
Across these 10 selected measures, the percentages of children meeting or exceeding widely held expectations ranged from 89% to 98%, with an average of approximately 94%.
Important context: The 94% figure represents the average meeting-or-exceeding rate across these 10 selected measures. It should not be interpreted to mean that 94% of individual children met every measure simultaneously or “passed” a kindergarten-readiness test.
Teaching Strategies® and GOLD® are registered trademarks of Teaching Strategies, LLC.
Want to Help Your Child Build a Stronger Foundation for Kindergarten?
Kindergarten readiness is built over time—through relationships, play, intentional teaching, exploration, communication, problem-solving, literacy, math, and opportunities to become increasingly confident and independent.
At The Weston School, our Preschool and Pre-K programs are designed to help children develop those foundations while still experiencing what early childhood learning should feel like: engaging, nurturing, challenging, and fun.
Explore Kindergarten Readiness
Learn how The Weston School approaches early literacy, math, social-emotional development, communication, fine-motor skills, independence, classroom routines, and whole-child preparation.
Explore Kindergarten Readiness →
Ready to See Kindergarten Readiness in Person?
Schedule a tour to meet our educators, explore the classrooms, learn about our curriculum and assessment approach, and talk with our team about your child’s next stage of development.
Call 317-676-1095 or choose your nearest Weston School below.
Find The Weston School Near You
- The Weston School – Avon
- The Weston School – Indianapolis
- The Weston School – Noblesville East
- The Weston School – Noblesville West
- The Weston School – Speedway
Success in School. Success in Life.®
