Report: Majority of Florida children not prepared for kindergarten
ORLANDO, Fla. —
A new report from the Florida Chamber Foundation shows only 44% of children are entering kindergarten ready to learn.
Vanessa Skipper, vice president of the Brevard Federation of Teachers, identified one significant challenge contributing to this issue.
“I think one of the main issues that’s facing everybody today is devices,” Skipper said.
The report — released by the Florida Chamber Foundation’s Business Alliance for Early Learning and based on data from 2020 to 2025 — also states children who attend voluntary prekindergarten programs tend to achieve greater success.
“It’s an opportunity to come in and be in a setting where they’re with other children. They can learn procedures, learn how to solve problems through conflict resolution, and that starts at a really young age. If they don’t have that opportunity, they’ll be behind not just academically but behaviorally,” Skipper said. “We really need to make sure that we are reading with our kids every single day, and sometimes we try to make it too prescriptive, so we say we have to read this many minutes. But really the idea should be just read with your child every day.”
According to the Education Scorecard, Florida ranks last in reading among states based on results from 2020 to 2025. However, Orange County and Bradford County have been identified as districts showing improvement.
Skipper encouraged parents to establish strong communication with their child’s teacher to address both academic and behavioral concerns early in the school year.
“I think the best thing you can do as a parent is build a strong relationship with the teacher. Make sure that there’s an open line of communication. Talk to the teacher about maybe your concerns about the student, both the academic and the behavior concerns. That way you start the year off as a team and you’re not playing catch-up weeks later,” Skipper said.