This go-to assessment is the best way to benchmark your kindergarteners easily! It would also be perfect for preschool and pre-k. It is standards-based, easy to administer, and provides teachers and parents valuable information about a child’s present level of performance.

Kindergarten Benchmark Assessment

Despite being tedious and time consuming, benchmarking students the first few weeks of school is very important. It provides lots of information about a student’s present level of performance. Plus, it gives a snapshot for how to differentiate. You can share the comprehensive data sheet with teachers and parents/guardians.

Included Skills

This assessment aims to benchmark and establish present levels of performance for early numeracy and literacy skills. Therefore, it is not comprehensive. It doesn’t cover all kindergarten foundational skills you’d teach throughout an entire school year. However, it does assess most skills you’d expect an incoming kindergartener to have sufficient knowledge of.

• Personal Information (first and last name, birthday, naming the people he/she lives with, address, phone number
• Self-portrait
• Parts of a book
• Rhyming words
• CVC words
• Dictation of simple sentences
• Written alphabet
• Upper- and lowercase letter identification
• Letter-sounds
• Syllables
• Onset/rime
• Blending
• Isolating and pronouncing B/M/E sounds in CVC words
• Counts quantities of objects
• Number identification 0-30
• Route count to 100
• Skip count by 10s to 100
• Days of the week, months of the year
• Identifies shapes
• Colors identification and color words
• Number words 0-9
• Number writing 0-9
• Patterns and sorting

Included Materials

While you can use any materials that you have on hand, the printable materials are convenient. Thankfully, all printed materials involve straight-line cuts (i.e. super easy!). We will use the all of these as review materials between benchmarks.

Frequency

Give this benchmark assessment to your kindergarteners as close to the start of the school year as possible, then again at the end of each term. This will allow you to track growth and skill mastery throughout the year.

Download The Benchmark Assessment for You Kindergarteners

You can preview the entire assessment here.

You can find all components of this benchmark assessment for kindergarteners here.

Class Resources

The pictures found in this poster set align great with the benchmark assessment for kindergarteners. You can see them in our room below.

Desk Helper

Learn more about the desk helper in this post, and download a FREE editable copy to use with preschool, kindergarten, and first grade students!

Sight Word Sampler

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