Early Enrollment in Kindergarten

What are the rules? Who can be evaluated?

To be eligible for kindergarten, a child must be 5 by or on September 1 of the school year. This is a State of Wisconsin requirement and is included in Board of Education policies. It is permissible to allow early entrance, but the conditions and procedures established by the State and School Board must be followed. By law, school districts that allow early entrance, which the Madison Metropolitan School District does, must conduct an evaluation and the child must demonstrate the social, emotional, physical and mental maturity expected for successful participation in Kindergarten. A child should be superior in intellectual growth, have superior language skills, ability to express him/herself well and be well developed physically.

Early entry evaluation is for children who are not age 5 by or on September 1 but whose birthdays fall from September 2 through December 31 and whose parents request it. Children born after December 31 may not be evaluated for early entry (Wisconsin Statutes).

What is the process?

Parents who would like to inquire about early entry to Kindergarten for their child should visit the School Psychologist at the child’s school of residence. The best time to do this is from February to mid-April.
The School Psychologist, after talking with parents, completes a referral form if the request is to proceed. A child referred for early admission evaluation should demonstrate advanced cognitive language, academic readiness, fine and large motor and social/emotional development.
Referral forms from all schools are collected by the Assistant Superintendent for Elementary Education. Parents receive a written questionnaire that requests information about their child and are scheduled for an individual 45-minute session in May. A questionnaire is also given to the preschool the child attends, if there is one. This information is collected and provided to the evaluator. A child whose primary language is Hmong or Spanish or another language may be evaluated in his/her respective language.
Two dates (Saturdays in early-mid May) are set for district-wide evaluations. Results will be shared with parents at this time. If approved for early entrance, information is forwarded to the child’s school of residence. If not approved, there is an option/process for parents who wish to appeal.

Requests that come in after the annual process is completed

Requests that are received after the district-wide evaluation in May and before the end of the school year. Children will receive an individual evaluation conducted by the School Psychologist using the same instrument that was used for the May district-wide evaluations (the early entrance version of the Kindergarten screener).
Requests that are received over the summer and during the last week in August before school begins and approved requests for re-evaluations. Children will receive an individual evaluation in the last week in August with a contracted staff member scheduled through the Assistant Superintendent for Elementary schools using the same instrument that was used for the May district-wide evaluations (the early entrance version of the Kindergarten screener). No evaluations are conducted when school is not in session except through this process.
Requests that are received from the first day of school until the third Friday of school. Children will receive an individual evaluation conducted by the School Psychologist using the same instrument that was used for the May district-wide evaluations (the early entrance version of the Kindergarten screener). Approval for early entrance must be completed prior to the 3rd Friday in September; no early entrance requests will be considered after this time.