States Ready Tests for Kindergarten

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New York and New Jersey are preparing to administer mandatory school-readiness tests to children as young as 4 years old in an effort to win millions of dollars from the federal government.

The states submitted applications this week for the newest round of federal Race to the Top money, the Obama administration's signature education program. The competition gives more weight to bidders that perform wide-ranging assessments of children in the first few months of kindergarten.

The program would cover about 200,000 children annually and represent the largest expansion of mandatory and uniform assessments in the state since 2006, when New York began requiring exams in grades three and five through seven.

Mr. Barra said there would be a major difference between tests given to older children and the observation-based assessments for kindergartners.

"Basic things, like a teacher stands over a kid's shoulder, watches him read and takes notes about how he's doing," he said. "To be clear, it's not like a bubble test. The kids aren't filling out paperwork. We're not scanning things in."