The more prepared children are for kindergarten, the more successful learners they will become. As part of the broader Ready for Kindergarten (RK4) program in Maryland, the Kindergarten Readiness Assessment (KRA) is administered to all kindergarten students in the first semester of a school year.

The KRA looks at the knowledge, skills and behaviors necessary to be successful in kindergarten. It also provides useful data for comparisons and analysis of prior care settings such as Pre-K, Head Start, home care, non-public nursery school, and others.

Districtwide results for 2025 – click to view the presentation to the Board of School Commissioners

Approximately 53.4 percent of City Schools students who attended City Schools pre-kindergarten programs** demonstrated readiness on the state’s Kindergarten Readiness Assessment (KRA) in 2024-25.
Between the 2021-22 and 2023-24 school years, City Schools kindergarten readiness improved by 16 percent, four times greater than the state. City Schools’ readiness rate this year again outpaced the most recent performance of Maryland kindergartners***, which was 44 percent in the 2023-24 school year.
Students in a City Schools Judy Centers pre-K program are 28.1 percent more likely to demonstrate readiness.
Students in other City Schools pre-K programs are 24.6 percent more likely to demonstrate readiness.
African-American: increased 6 percentage points to 52 percent.
Economically Disadvantaged: increased 7 percentage points to 49 percent.
Multilingual learner: increased 7 percentage points to 31 percent.

Districtwide results for 2024 - click to view the presentation to the Board of School Commissioners

Forty-six (46) percent of City Schools students who attended a City Schools’ PreK or Judy Center demonstrated readiness on the state’s Kindergarten Readiness Assessment (KRA) in the 2023-24 school year compared to 44 percent for Maryland overall.
City Schools’ Black/African American, Hispanic/Latino, White, Economically disadvantaged, and Multilingual learner students all outperformed the state in the same categories.
City Schools students with disabilities equaled the state's readiness performance.
Since the 2021-22 school year, the readiness of students attending City Schools pre-kindergarten programs City Schools has improved its kindergarten readiness by 10 percentage points.
Maryland has only improved by four percentage points during that time. Also, 46 percent of our test-takers who attended City Schools’ pre-K demonstrated readiness.