here's another

There is a big problem for our kids, schools, and economy. Too many of our kids are starting kindergarten unprepared. According to the Department of Early Learning (DEL), the WaKIDS 2010-2011 pilot involving 2,600 students from across the state shows "nearly one-third of children enter kindergarten below expected skill levels" in all four domains of learning (e.g. physical, social and emotional, cognitive, and language). WaKIDS pilot results showed 31-74% of our kids are starting kindergarten behind in the individual domains (see source here). When kids start behind they may need costly remediation, special education, and/or grade repetition once in the K-12 education system. A recent report from Governor Gregoire (see here) revealed that: (1) nearly 3,900 students repeated kindergarten or first grade in the 2006-2007 school year costing our State $10 million; and (2) early learning improvements alone can save our State $27 million per year in grade repetition costs.