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.

“KinderCare Education is committed to developmental assessments like BRIGANCE because they demonstrate the beneficial impact of high-quality education programs and highlight areas where individual children may need extra support,” said Dr. Elanna Yalow, Chief Academic Officer for KinderCare Education. “That’s important because the earlier children receive support, the better chance they have to catch up to their peers and be ready for kindergarten. Our focus on each child’s growth, development, and success sets KinderCare apart from other early childhood education programs.”

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.

“At KinderCare, we’re proud of how we use assessments, science, and data to provide input to our curriculum and to measure student outcomes, but the real magic is our teachers,”  said Tom Wyatt, CEO KinderCare Education. “At the end of the day, all families want what’s best for their children and to give them every advantage.”

Assessment Methodology

The BRIGANCE Early Childhood Screens III is an age-normed standardized developmental screening tool that is used nationwide to assess children who range in age from six weeks to seven years old. The assessment measures developmental progress in four domains:

• Physical
• Language
• Academic and cognitive
• Self-help skills and social-emotional development.

About KinderCare Education^®

KinderCare Education is an experience-based provider of early education and child care with more than 30,000 teachers and staff serving 185,000 families every day, where they need us:

• In neighborhoods with our KinderCare® Learning Centers and Rainbow Child Care Centers that offer early childhood education and child care for children six weeks to 12 years old
• At work through KinderCare Education at Work™, family-focused benefits for employers including on-site and near-site early learning centers and back-up care for last-minute child care
• In local schools with our Champions® before and after-school programs.

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.