Studies show that educational achievement gaps already exist at Kindergarten entry.  Children from low-income families are more likely to start school with limited language skills, health problems and social and emotional problems that interfere with learning.  The larger the gap at school entry, the harder it is to close.

Schools can improve the readiness of young children by making connections with local child care providers and preschools by creating policies that ensure smooth transitions to kindergarten.  Schools must be ready to address the diverse needs of the children and families in their community and be committed to the success of every child. 

 







 

Final National Meeting

This is the sixth and final National Meeting of the 17-state School Readiness Indicators Initiative which aims to use child well-being indicators to improve school readiness and ensure early school success.  Over the three years of the initiative, states have worked individually and collectively to develop comprehensive sets of measures to monitor and track progress related to physical, social, emotional, cognitive and economic well-being of young children.

Each state has selected a set of indicators that reflect state policy goals and state investments in programs and policies for young children and families as well as child outcomes.  States have also put in place communications strategies to share their selected set of indicators with policymakers, opinion leaders and the public in order to improve school readiness in their states.  This final meeting of the 17-state teams will be an opportunity to celebrate achievements, share lessons learned, discuss common indicators and explore ways to sustain an early childhood agenda within states and across the nation.

Meeting Objectives:

  • To share and celebrate each state's school readiness indicator product(s) including indicators, policy agenda and communication strategies.
  • To learn from each other's work and to share successes and challenges.
  • To highlight lessons learned and challenges in using indicators and communications strategies to move an early childhood policy agenda.
  • To develop strategies to sustain promising approaches related to indicators, communications and early childhood policy.
  • To review the indicators that have emerged in each state and explore the possibility of a common set of indicators across states.
 
 

 

 


       

© 2005, School Readiness Indicators Initiative
One Union Station Providence, RI 02903 401.351.9400 fax 401.351.1758
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The School Readiness Indicators Initiative is supported by the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation and the Ford Foundation.
The 17-state initiative is managed by Rhode Island KIDS COUNT