Early Admission to Kindergarten

Early Kindergarten admission testing is available for children who demonstrate both academic and social/emotional readiness for kindergarten. This opportunity is designed for students who exhibit strong skills and behaviors that support an early start to Kindergarten.

If your student misses the kindergarten cutoff of turning 5 by September 1 and turns 5 prior to October 15, you can apply for Early Admission to Kindergarten Testing.  WCPS has a process in place for applying for Early Admittance Testing, please read the following information prior to submitting your application. 

Age
Your student must turn 5 after September 2 and prior to October 15 of the year you are applying.

General Information
What is Kindergarten Readiness? Our assessment for early admission evaluates multiple areas to ensure that children are ready to thrive early in a classroom environment. About 17% of assessed students qualify for early admission each year, meeting high standards in the following skill areas:

Academic Skills

• Recognizing letters and numbers

• Basic number sense (e.g., understanding numbers, counting to 20)
• Early addition and subtraction awareness
• Reading comprehension and phonemic awareness (ability to hear and work with sounds in words)
• Writing their name

Social/Emotional and Behavioral Skills

• Demonstrating on-task behaviors appropriate for kindergarten
• Following multi-step directions
• Showing readiness to engage in group activities and classroom routines

Motor Skills

• Fine motor skills, such as writing and handling small objects
• Gross motor skills, like jumping, running, and coordination

Application Process

• Upon reading this information, if you feel your child demonstrates advanced academic and social emotional abilities and is 5 by October 15th, you can fill out the application for Early Admittance to Kindergarten testing.
• Keep in mind, this application does not guarantee Early Admittance, only testing to see if your child qualifies.
• The application can be found here.  Please be sure to read all information and complete all parts of the application, prior to submitting.
• Applications will be accepted March 15-June 15 of the application year.  No applications will be accepted after June 15 for Early Admissions testing.
• Testing will be scheduled between April and June.  Families will be emailed a link to sign up for testing. Students may only be tested one time, no re-testing will take place.
   

Please Note

• If you are planning to apply for Early Admission to Kindergarten Testing, we strongly encourage you to also apply to pre-k. We recommend applying for pre-k in the event that your child does not qualify for early admission to kindergarten.
• Due to the rigor and high expectations of performance by all students, the decision to enroll a child early to kindergarten is an important and significant decision. Once your child has begun kindergarten, you and/or the WCPS team will have the option to reconsider early enrollment. If you and/or the WCPS team decide that early admission is not in the child’s best interest, a meeting between the family and WCPS team will be scheduled to discuss next steps.