.jpg "Kindergartner smiling")
About Early Entrance
Early Entrance Presentation Slides (PDF)
A child must turn five years old by August 31 to register for kindergarten. If your child turns five between September 1 and November 30 and you live within Central Kitsap School District's boundaries, you can apply for early entrance and pay for testing. Younger children are not eligible. The testing cost is $200.
We will assess many of your child’s skills. An academic skill, such as counting or reciting ABCs, is only part of being ready for school. We also look at social-emotional development, sight, hearing, communication, and motor skills. Often we encourage you to wait until your child is older to enter kindergarten. Many children do better in elementary school when they start later.
Applying for Early Entrance
Information to apply for testing for the 2023-2024 school year.
- The application, and fee of $200 are required prior to June 1, 2023. We will email you instructions on how to pay. If you can’t afford
the test fee, please call us for payment help at 360-662-1734.
- Schedule Testing. Once
all forms are turned in and the fee is paid, you can schedule testing. Testing will only be - June 20-29, 2023. Please keep that time open.
- Families who move to CKSD attendance boundaries over the summer. Please email your interest to have your child tested to Kim Burchett at [email protected]. The deadline to register and pay for late testing is August 17, 2023. Testing will take place August 24, 2023. This late testing is only for students who moved into the Central Kitsap district after the June testing window closed. Please contact Kim Burchett.
Testing
You won’t be with your child during testing, but please remain on the premises with your cell phone.
The test will take about an hour. If you have other children with you, please bring books, games, or toys to keep them busy.
During the test, a school psychologist will look at:
- evidence of strength in mental ability,
- fine and gross motor ability,
- visual and auditory discrimination emotional/social development, and
- communication skills
If additional testing is needed you will be contacted.
The parents or guardians of early entrance candidates will receive written notification of the test results within a week of testing. Those candidates recommended for early entrance placement will be told the next steps for kindergarten registration and the provisional process.
The final determination for placement will be made by the Assistant Director of Student Services.
Trial Kindergarten Enrollment
If testing shows that your child has all the skills he or she needs, you may enroll him or her in kindergarten. We’ll then watch your child closely for 30 days. If at that time it looks like your child may not be ready, we’ll carry out another social and emotional skills test. We will ask you to meet with the teacher, principal, and possibly others to talk about what we’ve seen. We’ll work together to decide if your child should stay in kindergarten. Ultimately, the principal will make a final decision.
More Information
We do encourage you to think seriously about the implications for your child’s future. School is more than just academics. Maturity and social competence are often as important to a child’s overall success as intellectual capacity. Depending on a child’s birthdate, the early entrance could result in an age difference of up to two years between your child and their grade-level peers. For that reason, rather than pursue early entrance some families choose to keep a child out of school for an extra year to provide an additional measure of maturity.
Please review the Early Entrance to Kindergarten Parent/Guardian Information above for details on kindergarten readiness and the testing process. For additional questions or concerns please contact our Highly Capable specialist at [email protected]