An examination of the use and outcomes of readiness assessments, retention policies, and title 1 funding for kindergarten children in the United States.

• Snapshot of school policies that may influence kindergarteners in America. • Examined associations between school policies and kindergartners' academic learning. • Readiness assessments, retention polices, and title I funds to serve kindergarteners are common. • These school policies are applied differently across schools in America. • School policies were not related to children's academic learning. The current study examined the prevalence and usage of three theoretically informed school-level policies, namely the use of readiness assessments, retention policies, and Title I funds in kindergarten classrooms across the United States. Using the nationally representative Early Childhood Longitudinal Study Kindergarten Class of 2011, we examined whether these school-level policies in kindergarten were related to children's academic learning both generally, and specifically for those who had attended pre-K. Results revealed that the use of kindergarten readiness assessments, kindergarten retention policies, and Title I funds in kindergarten were widespread across the nation. However, application and usage of these school-level policies were varied. Moreover, these school-level policies were generally not associated with children's academic learning broadly or differentially for those who had attended pre-K in the year before kindergarten. This study establishes a national snapshot of the kindergarten landscape in the United States and opens a door for future research to continue to explore how kindergarten specific school-level policies shape children's learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]