The Florida Kindergarten Readiness Screener (FLKRS) is administered to assess the readiness of each child for kindergarten within the first 30 school days of each academic school year. The FLKRS includes a subset of the Early Childhood Observation System™ (ECHOS™) and the first two measures of the Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills™ (DIBELS™), Letter Naming Fluency and Initial Sound Fluency, to gather information on a child’s development in emergent literacy.

• The formula used to calculate FLKRS scores and VPK Readiness Rates is identical. However, individual county scores for the two measures differ because VPK Readiness Rates only measure children who completed a VPK Provider Program, whereas FLKRS scores measure all children entering kindergarten. In the 2007-08 school year, approximately 55% of the children taking the FLKRS completed a VPK program, with children completing the VPK Provider Program scoring approximately 10% higher than children taking the FLKRS.
   
  • The chart below compares FLKRS scores for Pinellas County and Florida for 2006-08. The scores reflect the ECHOS and DIBELS scores reported by the Florida Department of Education.
     
    • Pinellas County’s FLKRS score continued to improve in 2008 and exceeds the state average.

ECHOS (Early Childhood Observation System) is a continuous observational assessment system for Pre-Kindergarten and Kindergarten through grade 2.   It offers a clear picture of how each child is progressing toward national and state standards and toward meeting grade-level expectations. ECHOS measures benchmarks in seven domains based on the guidelines and standards of the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) and other national organizations.  The seven domains are: language and literacy, mathematics, social and personal skills, science, social studies, physical development and fitness, and creative arts.  Teachers assign one of four progress level ratings to each child: Not yet demonstrating, emerging, progressing, and consistently demonstrates. However, data provided by the FLDOE combines emerging and progressing into one category.

• In 2008, 56% of Pinellas County kindergarten students were classified as consistently demonstrating, a gain of five percentage points over 2007 and eight percentage points better than the state as a whole. Virtually the entire gain came from students previously classified as emerging/progressing. Nine percent of students scored as not yet demonstrating, three percentage points better than the state average.

• Thirty-two percent of Pinellas County’s kindergarten students were considered to be moderate to high risk in 2008 and in need of intervention, a slight improvement over 2007 and the same as the state average.

DIBELS Letter Naming Fluency (LNF) is a standardized individually administered test that provides another measure of risk. Students are presented with a page of upper- and lower-case letters arranged in random order and are asked to name as many letters as they can.

• Pinellas County students have made significant progress in letter naming fluency since 2004, with the percentage of students in the moderate/high risk category declining from 35% in 2004 to 25% in 2008. This improvement parallels the progress made throughout the state.