This report offers answers to four basic questions about children's readiness for school: (1) What does being ready for school mean? (2) How can practitioners best identify and assess readiness? (3) How important is readiness? and (4) How do children who are ready get ready, and how do children who are not yet ready become ready? It is argued that readiness should be viewed as a continuum. Few children are completely ready or unready upon entering school. Because readiness is a combination of many factors, no single factor should be used to determine readiness. Assessment should involve readiness scores, classroom behavior, emotional development, and parental input, as well as the child variables of curiosity, determination, and motivation. Fairly simple readiness tests are available for use in assessing readiness. These include the Gesell Pre-school and School Readiness Tests and the Metropolitan Readiness Test. Readiness is important because children "overplaced" in educational settings may experience organismic strain, stress, and developmental difficulties. They may become reluctant learners. Parents play an important role in promoting their children's readiness by providing opportunities to explore new environments and develop vocabulary in an atmosphere rooted in love, fun, and the absence of anxiety. (RH)