Readiness for school

Children gain the key skills for school readiness through day-to-day experiences that encourage their social growth and learning. Extensive research shows that the relationships children have with their parents and caregivers play a significant role in this growth, since stable and secure relationships are central to healthy human development. Early intervention services exist for infants and toddlers, birth to three, who have a developmental disability and/or delay and their families. Research indicates that early diagnosis and access to services can reduce the intensity of service required later in a child’s life and prevent involvement in special education for some children.The purpose of the Head Start Program, authorized by Congress in the Head Start Act, is “to promote school readiness by enhancing the social and cognitive development of low income children through the provision, to low income children and their families, of health educational, nutritional, social, and other services that are determined based on family needs assessments, to be necessary.

Embedded racial inequities produce disparities in children’s opportunities to be school ready. Some of the factors that we know contribute to these inequities are disproportional rates of poverty, segregation of neighborhoods, and disparate access to community resources. One of the key resources that can promote school readiness is quality child care. Because of economic disparities, people of color are less likely to have access to the highest quality programs and the programs they do access may pose cultural barriers to children’s learning and growth in the program.