Standardized assessment for students entering kindergarten

(a) The board of education shall adopt a kindergarten entry assessment, and the department of education shall administer the kindergarten entry assessment. (b) The kindergarten entry assessment shall: (1) Be administered within the first thirty days of each child's admission into kindergarten; (2) Be a uniform, statewide assessment; provided that the assessment shall be conducted in English or Hawaiian; (3) Cover all essential domains of school readiness, including: (A) Language and literacy development; (B) Cognition and general knowledge; (C) Approaches to learning; (D) Physical well-being and motor development; and (E) Social and emotional development; (4) Be used in conformance with the recommendations of the National Research Council reports on early childhood; and (5) Be valid and reliable for its intended purpose. (c) Information obtained from the kindergarten entry assessments shall be used to: (1) Close the school readiness gap at kindergarten entry; (2) Inform instruction in the early elementary school grades; and (3) Inform parents of their children's status and to involve parents in decisions regarding their children's education. (d) The department shall share the information gathered pursuant to this section with the department of human services, executive office on early learning, and state public charter school commission to the extent not otherwise prohibited by administrative rule or law.