Foster Care Kindergarten Readiness

Foster Care Kindergarten Readiness

Children who experience foster care are prepared for kindergarten at lower rates than children who do not experience foster care. Although the overall rate of kindergarten readiness has increased over the past few years, there has not been a substantial increase in kindergarten readiness for children who have experienced foster care.

READ THE ERDC REPORT ON EDUCATION AND WORKFORCE OUTCOMES FOR CHILDREN & YOUTH IN FOSTER CARE

Kindergarten Readiness by Foster Care Status, 2015-2024 School Years

  Line graph showing kindergarten readiness by foster care status, for the 2025-2024 school years. Students who have experienced foster care are consistently less ready for kindergarten than their peers who have not experienced foster care. For both groups, annual readiness rates vary, but for non-foster students, improvements made prior to 2020 have been maintained since 2020. In the 2015-2016 school year, 46.8% of non-foster students were ready for kindergarten, and in 2024-2025, 57.1% of them were ready. For foster students there is annual variation but not evidence of sustained improvement in kindergarten readiness. In 2015-2016, 33.1% of non-foster students were ready for kindergarten, and in 2024-2025 34.6% were ready.
 
Early Learning
Strategic Priority Outcome
Create High Quality, Integrated B-8 System