Portland, Ore. (November 27, 2018) – Recent data using the BRIGANCE developmental screen, a widely used norm-referenced assessment tool, show that children who attend KinderCare Education (KCE) programs are developmentally ahead of their peers after just one year in the program. Furthermore, children who stay with KinderCare for more than one year are more likely to meet developmental benchmarks for their age and to be categorized as developmentally advanced.
According to the data analysis, by their third year in a KCE early learning program, children are nearly twice as likely to be exceeding benchmarks for their age and four times less likely to be flagged for possible developmental concerns.
In the analysis, 1,145 children in KCE early learning programs were assessed over six seasons from 2014-2018. In their first season with KCE, 29 percent of children were identified as having possible developmental delays. However, after three years, only seven percent of the original group were still identified as possibly delayed. In addition, the percent of children who were identified as gifted grew from 27 percent of the children in the first assessment to 48 percent after three years in KCE programs.
Although screenings and assessments are increasingly common in school settings, KCE is the only private nationwide early childhood education provider that analyzes their students' screenings and publicly reports the results.
In addition to tracking success against developmental benchmarks, regular assesments such as the BRIGANCE screenings can help parents better understand how their child is progressing and encourage them to seek additional support if there are any areas of concern. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, one out of six children have one or more developmental or behavioral disabilities or delays, and only 20-30 percent of these children are identified before starting grade school. According to the National Early Childhood Technical Assistance Center, early intervention is key to addressing developmental delays at a time when extra support has the greatest potential for positive impact on a child's life.
With a curriculum designed to nurture children's cognitive, social, emotional, and physical development, KinderCare better prepares young learners for elementary school. And whether they are learning to crawl, learning their first words, or learning to share at family-style meals, data show that the longer that children are enrolled in KinderCare, the better they do compared to their peers who did not attend KinderCare's early childhood education programs.
Self-help skills and social-emotional development.
KinderCare Education operates more than 1,500 early learning centers, more than 480 Champions sites, and is supported by a corporate team of nearly 500 headquarters employees based in Portland, Oregon. In 2018, KinderCare Education earned their second Gallup Great Workplace Award – one of only 39 companies worldwide to win this award – and acquired several regional early childhood education brands, including Rainbow Child Care Centers. To learn more, visit kc-education.com.