Children must turn five between September 1 and November 30 to participate in the Early Entrance evaluation.

Children must be age 5 on or before August 31.

• Cognitive—a standardized developmental inventory is used to assess the child's cognitive development, which includes: ability to attend to visual and auditory stimuli and to retrieve information; critical thinking skills; and ability to conceptualize, discriminate, and draw relationships among object features (such as size and shape).
• Fine Motor—a standardized developmental inventory is used to assess the child’s fine muscle control and coordination, particularly the small muscles in the arms and hands that allow performance of increasingly complicated tasks such as tracing, cutting, and tying.
• Communication—a standardized developmental inventory is used to assess the child's receptive language (ability to discriminate, recognize, and understand sounds and words, and understanding and use of conversational skills) and expressive language development (use of words to relate information to others, knowledge of and ability to use simple rules of grammar, and use of language as a tool for social contact).
• Perceptual Motor— a standardized developmental inventory is used to measure child’s ability to integrate fine motor and perceptual skills for tasks such as stacking blocks, copying geometric shapes, letters, and numbers.
• Social/Emotional—a child’s readiness is assessed by information provided on the Parent Questionnaire and the Preschool/Daycare Questionnaire, and by behavior observed during the assessment session.

Applicants must earn a score at the 95th percentile or higher in the cognitive and communication domains, and at the 75th percentile or higher in the fine motor and perceptual motor domains. An applicant’s performance on the standardized developmental inventory is compared to the performance of a national sample of children of the same age. Students must also demonstrate age-appropriate (5-year-old range) social/emotional development.

Approximately 15% of applicants qualify.

You may download an application here during the application period. Please check back in February 2021. You may also call the Accelerated Programs office at 425-936-1238 to request an application be mailed.

Early Entrance evaluations will be scheduled and completed before August each year; families will receive an email informing them of the date and time of their student’s assessment session. Testing will take place at the LWSD Resource Center, located at 16250 NE 74th St, Redmond, WA 98052 (in Redmond Town Center).

The child is individually evaluated by a school psychologist and/or a certified teacher.

The assessment session lasts approximately 1.0 - 1.5 hours. Parents will not be allowed in the testing rooms.

Children must complete the entire early entrance to kindergarten evaluation on their assigned test date within their allotted assessment period. Incomplete assessments will not be scored. Children who are unable to complete the assessments will not be allowed to complete the evaluation at a later date.

Children are not allowed to take the early entrance to kindergarten assessments more than once.

Test results will be sent to parents approximately two weeks after the evaluation. If your child qualifies, the neighborhood school will also be notified.

We charge a $175.00 non-refundable testing fee, which covers the costs of the testing. This fee may be changed by the Board of Directors. If your family qualifies for Free and Reduced Lunch, you are allowed to request a reduced fee of $25.00. You need to fill out a free/reduced lunch application and submit with your early entrance application for review.

You may not take the test unless you live in the Lake Washington School District attendance area and have current proof of residency.

You may not register your child until he/she has been found eligible through the assessment process.

The district does not accept private testing results or results from other school districts in the early entrance process. All students must go through the district’s identification process to be eligible for early entrance to kindergarten.

Entrance criteria are applied equitably to all applicants. Appeals for matters related to problems clearly identified with the testing conditions will be considered. Appeals must be in writing and received by the Accelerated Programs office within 14 days of the date of the letter notifying parents of results. The findings of the appeals review committee are final and will be sent to the parents/guardians within 30 days.

Your child does not need to be proficient in reading and writing for this assessment.

A child must have a verified record of an identified disability (such as vision, hearing, motor, etc.) that impacts the testing environment. Any modifications and/or accommodations must be allowed by the publisher of the standardized test.

There is no studying for these developmental assessments.

The assessments will be given in English, as our kindergarten classes are conducted in English. An interpreted test will not help us determine if the child is ready for early entrance to an English learning environment. We will provide a translator for an adult in the family who wishes to be able to understand a conference.

Our district policy states that underage children who have previously been enrolled (for a period of not less than four consecutive months) in a state accredited private school which encompasses at least a kindergarten through a grade three program may request transfer into a similar placement in Lake Washington School District. The school principal/team will assess the student’s academic and social readiness and determine whether the student’s skills are age appropriate for a particular grade level.

We do not test for early entrance to first grade. Children who have previously been enrolled (for a period of not less than four consecutive months) in a public school first grade or in an accredited private school which encompasses at least a kindergarten through a grade three program may request transfer into a similar placement in Lake Washington School District. The school principal/team will assess the student’s academic and social readiness and determine whether the student’s skills are age appropriate for a particular grade level.