In 1990, the National Education Goals were established by the President and the 50 state governors. Goal 1 states that by the year 2000, all children in America will start school ready to learn. This booklet is a condensed version of an earlier document intended to further amplify the dimensions of early learning and development used by the National Educational Goals Panel to measure progress toward Goal 1. Following a list of objectives of Goal 1 and a look at the subjective nature of assessing learning readiness, the booklet briefly discusses the following five dimensions that contribute to school preparedness: (1) health and physical development; (2) emotional well-being and social competence, serving as the foundation for relationships which give meaning to the school experience; (3) approaches to learning, referring to the inclinations, dispositions or styles by which children acquire knowledge; (4) communicative skills, including language, and reading and writing processes; and (5) cognition and general knowledge, the sum of children's early experiences and how they record those experiences. Characteristics of five children considered ready to learn are noted, highlighting the different combination of strengths and weaknesses along the five dimensions. The booklet concludes with a list of publications about or related to readiness, for parents, educators, and policymakers. (HTH)