As part of the Maryland State Department of Education's (MSDE's) ongoing commitment to early learning and school readiness, a comprehensive Kindergarten Readiness Assessment (KRA) was administered for the first time this school year. This assessment, which builds on and advances the MMSR, is part of our new Ready for Kindergarten: Maryland's Early Childhood Comprehensive Assessment System (R4K). R4K aligns with Maryland's more rigorous PreK-12 College and Career-Ready Standards and establishes higher benchmarks for our children. "Readiness Matters: The 2014-2015 Kindergarten Readiness Assessment Report," shares the school readiness results of Maryland's children -- statewide, by subgroups, and for each of Maryland's 24 local jurisdictions. Based on our higher standards, the baseline results for this first year are: (1) Nearly half of entering kindergarteners (47%) in school year 2014-2015 demonstrate the foundational skills and behaviors that prepare them for a kindergarten curriculum based on Maryland's more rigorous standards; (2) More than half of Asian kindergarteners (53%), white kindergarteners (57%), and kindergarteners reporting two or more races (52%) demonstrate this new level of readiness; (3) Kindergarteners from low-income households, who are learning the English language, and who have disabilities exhibit lower readiness levels than Maryland kindergarteners as a whole; and (4) Children who attended public PreK programs the year prior to entering kindergarten (46%) are within 1 point of the statewide readiness average. Because public PreK programs serve a high percentage of children with academic risk factors, these data are significant for addressing the achievement gaps. [For a related report, see ED572302]