School Readiness Indicator Initiative - "School Readiness Indicators: Making Progress for Young Children was a multi-state initiative that used child well-being indicators to build a change agenda in states and local communities in order to improve school readiness and ensure early school success. The task of participating states was to develop a set of child outcome and systems indicators for children from birth through the fourth-grade reading test, an important red flag for children most at-risk for poor long-term outcomes, such as dropping out of school, teen pregnancy, and juvenile crime.

The school readiness indicators that were developed are comprehensive and practical. Indicators will be tracked at the state level and in local communities in order to monitor the capacity of child and family programs to meet the variable needs that exist across communities. Indicators reflect state investments in programs and policies for young children and families as well as child outcomes. The indicators are broad enough to present a picture of the whole child, including children's health status, what children know and can do, children's mental and emotional health, and children’s economic well-being. Indicators have been developed to fill the gap in knowledge between the child's status at birth and their status at school entry."