The first of Goals 2000, "all children in America will start school ready to learn," has been problematic to measure because of the ambiguity of "all,""start,""ready," and "learn." A more measurable and appropriate statement would be "all primary schools will be able to provide developmentally…

On the surface, it appears that it should be quite simple to identify the characteristics of a child who is ready for school and then to assess whether or not any given child has these characteristics. But readiness is a difficult construct and one that has been the topic of great debate. Assessment of readiness is even more challenging. Policies…