In this October 2023 data report(*1) of the Virginia Kindergarten Readiness Program (VKRP) to the General Assembly, we report the fall and spring kindergarten data collected during the 2022-2023 academic year, kindergarten data trends from fall 2019 through spring 2023, 2022-2023 pre-kindergarten data for three- and four-year-old publicly funded pre-kindergarten students, update on the progress on the mathematics, self-regulation, social skills, and mental health well-being assessment pilot in first through third grades (1-3 Assessment Pilot), and share future goals of the VKRP system for the 2023-2024 year and beyond.

VKRP empowers Virginia’s teachers and education leaders by providing a comprehensive assessment system that shines a spotlight on pre-kindergarten and kindergarten students’ learning and growth. VKRP is a Virginia standards-aligned, multi-year early learning assessment system that produces actionable information to guide decisions at the student, classroom, school, and division level from the beginning of pre-kindergarten through the end of kindergarten to support student learning. VKRP provides assessments of mathematics, self-regulation, and social skills to complement Virginia’s longstanding literacy screeners. The 2022-2023 literacy data gathered from the PALS-K measure in kindergarten and the Virginia Language & Literacy Screener: Pre-K (VALLS: Pre-K) come directly from the Virginia Literacy Partnerships (VLP), formerly known as the PALS office. Additional information on the literacy screeners can be found on the VLP website.

From 2014 through 2018, the Center for Advanced Study of Teaching and Learning (CASTL) at the University of Virginia implemented VKRP in kindergarten through a voluntary rollout where, each year, an increasing number of school divisions elected to administer VKRP. Virginia began statewide, mandatory kindergarten administration of VKRP in the 2019-2020 school year.

The VKRP team developed a four-year-old pre-kindergarten extension of VKRP between 2018-2021. In the 2021-2022 school year, VKRP became available to all publicly funded pre-kindergarten programs to assess four-year-old children’s skills in fall of 2021 and spring of 2022. Additionally, the VKRP team developed a three-year-old extension of VKRP, which became available to all publicly funded pre-kindergarten programs to assess three-year-old children’s skills in the 2022-2023 school year. Pre-kindergarten expansion of VKRP will continue during the 2023-2024 school year.
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(*1) This report is submitted to satisfy the requirement that "the Department shall submit such findings using data from the prior year's fall assessment to the Chairmen of House Appropriations and Senate Finance Committees no later than October 1 each year.