Assessment in Early Childhood

A critical component of MDE’s Comprehensive Assessment System are age-appropriate Kindergarten Entry Profile (KEP) assessments. These standards-based assessments produce valid and reliable data and are also high-quality, comprehensive and developmentally appropriate. The data from KEP assessments can help teachers, administrators, and families understand what students know and are able to do to support their success in school and beyond.

MDE encourages Pre-K-3rd Grade (P3) systems to consider adopting KEP assessments since these assessments can be used with children across ages, grades, and programs (e.g., prekindergarten, kindergarten, Voluntary Pre-Kindergarten (VPK), School Readiness, School Readiness Plus (SRP), Early Childhood Special Education, Head Start, and child care programs).

The current menu of KEP assessments includes:

  • COR Advantage, produced by High Scope
    • For use with children from birth through kindergarten
  • Desired Results Developmental Profile – (DRDP), Comprehensive View, published by WestEd and the California Department of Education
    • DRDP-PS, for use with children up to two years prior to kindergarten entry (i.e. 3- and 4-year-olds)
    • DRDP-K, for use with children in kindergarten
  • GOLD, published by Teaching Strategies
    • For use with children from birth through third grade
  • Work Sampling System (WSS), published by Pearson
    • WSS-P3, for use with children two years prior to kindergarten entry (i.e. 3-year-olds)
    • WSS-P4, for use with children one year prior to kindergarten entry (i.e. 4-year olds)
    • WSS-K, for use with children in kindergarten
Data from KEP-approved assessments (along with other relevant information) can also be used to guide continuous program improvement efforts including:

  • Reading Well by Third Grade.
  • World’s Best Workforce.
  • Child Outcome Summary (COS) reporting.
  • Parent Aware 3- and 4-star-rated programs in order to fulfill their assessment requirement.