NC Ready Schools Initiative
In June 2000, the NC Ready for School Goal Team issued a report entitled School Readiness in North Carolina. In that report “school readiness” was defined as a puzzle with two pieces:
- The condition of children when they enter school.
- The capacity of schools to educate all children, whatever each child’s condition may be.
Additionally, the report outlined a series of recommendations for what was needed in our state to assure that all children were arriving at school “ready” and that schools were, in turn, “ready” for all children. Since that report was released, there has been growing national attention and research around issues related to Ready Schools.
For more information on the 2000 report and the initial baseline assessment that was conducted, go to: http://www.fpg.unc.edu/~SchoolReadiness
In 2006, through a grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, the NC Ready Schools Taskforce was convened by June Atkinson, State Superintendent; Karen Ponder, Smart Start President; and Carolyn Cobb, Director of the Office of School Readiness. The purpose of the taskforce was to review the initial recommendations that were made in regard to the Ready Schools component of the original report and to determine what steps must be taken to assist our state in moving forward. This taskforce worked for over a year to develop an updated definition and criteria for ready schools and a 4-5 year action plan with a statewide goal of assuring that every elementary school in NC is working towards our ready school vision.
Approval by the NC State Board of Education
In June 2007, the North Carolina State Board of Education took the following actions in support of the NC Ready Schools Initiative:
- Adopted the “Definition and Pathways” of a Ready School;
- Endorsed the “Power of K” position paper as a Ready School foundational support; and
- Supported the recommendation that elementary schools develop a “ready school plan” to be integrated into the School Improvement Planning process, using a “ready school” assessment instrument to support development of the plan.
Ready School Planning Teams
The NC Ready Schools Initiative will support efforts by local school systems to begin the ready school planning process with each of their elementary schools. To that end, every community and school system is encouraged to begin this effort through development of a local Ready School Planning Team. Such teams should include, but not be limited to the following participants:
- Public school leaders (superintendent, teachers, principals, etc.)
- Local Smart Start Partnership Representatives
- Families
- Higher Education Representatives
- Early Childhood Educators and other representatives
- Faith and Business Community Leaders
- Community Leaders
To find out how to get involved in the NC Ready Schools Initiative, please email gscobb@ncsmartstart.org.
