Percentage of children age 4 and 5 and not yet in kindergarten and whether they can identify shapes, count, recognize letters of the alphabet, and write name, by poverty status of child's family and child's race/ethnicity: 2019

Characteristic	Can identify basic shapes such as a triangle, rectangle, circle, or square							How high the child can count								Can recognize letters of the alphabet						Can write his or her first name, even if some of the letters are backwards
Characteristic	No		Yes, some		Yes, most	Yes, all		Cannot count		Up to 10		Up to 50		Up to 100 or more		No		Yes, some	Yes, most		Yes, all
Total	3		11		24	62		1		19		59		21		3		30	28		39	78

	At or above poverty threshold¹
Total	1		9		23	66		1		16		61		23		3		26	30		42	82

Child’s race/ethnicity
White, non-Hispanic	1	!	6		20	73		1	!	12		65		23		1	!	25	31		43	84
Black, non-Hispanic	‡		9	!	34	56		‡		21		56		23		‡		26	26		47	82
Hispanic	‡		19		27	51		‡		23		58		18		7	!	30	31		32	75
Asian or Pacific Islander, non-Hispanic	‡		5	!	28	67		‡		21		41		37		‡		20	21		54	80
Other race, non-Hispanic²	‡		‡		17	80		‡		12	!	60		28		‡		17	25		58	86
	Below poverty threshold¹
Total	9		17		28	46		2		34		52		13		6		50	20		24	63

Child’s race/ethnicity
White, non-Hispanic	‡		10	!	29	59		‡		32		52		16		‡		49	20		27	68
Black, non-Hispanic	9	!	21	!	29	41		‡		26	!	50		22	!	‡		45	22	!	29	55
Hispanic	‡		17		27	39		‡		41		53		6	!	8	!	53	20		19	69
Asian or Pacific Islander, non-Hispanic	‡		‡		‡	‡		‡		‡		‡		‡		‡		‡	‡		‡	‡
Other race, non-Hispanic²	‡		‡		‡	42	!	‡		45	!	51	!	‡		‡		75	‡		‡	29

‡Reporting standards not met. Either there are too few cases for a reliable estimate or the coefficient of variation (CV) is 50 percent or greater.

!Interpret data with caution. The coefficient of variation (CV) for this estimate is between 30 and 50 percent.

¹ Determined by the federal government, the poverty threshold is the income necessary to meet the household's needs, given its size and composition. Income is collected in categories in the survey, rather than as an exact amount, and therefore the poverty measures used in this table are approximations of poverty. For detailed information on the poverty status calculation used in this table, see Early Childhood Program Participation: 2019 (https://nces.ed.gov/pubs2020/2020075.pdf).

²“Other race, non-Hispanic” includes American Indian/Alaska Native children who are not Hispanic and children who are two or more races and not Hispanic.

NOTE: Detail may not sum totals because of rounding.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Early Childhood Program Participation Survey of the 2019 National Household Education Surveys Program (ECPP-NHES:2019).