New Criteria for Kindergarten Enrollment
In June 2023, the Connecticut General Assembly voted to raise the minimum age for automatic entry into public schools in Connecticut. Effective July 2024, Section 1 of Public Act 23-208 states that children will need to turn five on or before Sept. 1. of the school year in order to be automatically eligible to enroll in school.
The legislation does allow a level of flexibility: a school district may admit a child who has not turned five by Sept. 1 of the school year if the parent makes a request in writing and the school district conducts an assessment. Admission to kindergarten would be determined by the child’s performance on the developmentally appropriate assessment.
For Madison students who will not turn five until after the Sept. 1 cutoff, the District will use this flexibility to consider students who will turn 5 between Sept. 2 and Dec. 31, 2024. To be considered for admission, families must fill out the following application and have their student complete an in-person kindergarten readiness assessment.
The Madison Readiness Assessment is developed from the CT Kindergarten Entrance Inventory (KEI) and will assess if the student adequately demonstrates the most important skills needed at the beginning of kindergarten, including language skills, literacy skills, numeracy skills, physical/motor skills, creative/aesthetic skills, and personal/social skills.