The Washington Kindergarten Inventory of Developing Skills (WaKIDS) is a kindergarten process that:
- Welcomes families into the Washington K-12 system as partners in their child’s education.
- Gives kindergarten teachers information about the development of children in their classroom to help them teach every child—data about social/emotional, cognitive, language/literacy and physical development.
- Align practices of early learning professionals and kindergarten teachers to support smooth transitions for children.
- Offers a statewide snapshot of where children in Washington are in their development at the start of kindergarten, to help inform state-level decisions about policy and investments.
WaKIDS was successfully piloted during the 2010-2011 school year. Senate Bill 5427, passed during the 2011 legislative session, moves toward statewide WaKIDS implementation:
- WaKIDS is optional for state-funded full-day kindergarten classrooms in school year 2011-2012.
- WaKIDS will be mandatory for state-funded full-day kindergarten classrooms beginning in school year 2012-2013.
- Other schools may choose to participate.
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