NC Ready Schools Initiative

In recent years, the NC Ready Schools Initiative has gained momentum in North Carolina and has emerged as a critical component of the overall readiness picture.

Here is a brief timeline highlighting the journey thus far....

History / Background

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:

  1. The condition of children when they enter school.
  2. 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. By January 2007, the taskforce approved a definition and pathways of a ready school and recommended every elementary school in North Carolina meet this definition.

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:

In the fall of 2007, State Superintendent, June Atkinson and Smart Start President, Stephanie Fanjul, co-hosted six regional meetings across North Carolina in order to discuss the NC Ready Schools Initiative, the action taken by the State Board of Education and future planning at the local level. Every school superintendent and every local Smart Start partnership was asked to work together and bring a Ready School Planning Team to the meeting.

In total, 90 of 100 counties and 103 of 115 school systems participated in the regional meetings.

Ready School Planning Team

Ready School Planning Teams should include, but not be limited to the following participants:

This diverse group of people begins by having a conversation about the needs of the children, families and schools in the county. They talk about the strengths of the community and the elementary school. Then, through the use of an assessment tool, they begin to evaluate the strengths and areas of opportunities for each elementary school. Since the regional meetings, more than 3 dozen counties have moved forward to launch their own ready schools initiative. View map to see where Ready School activities are occurring throughout North Carolina.

Staffing

Smart Start now has a team of Ready School consultants available to assist local communities. For more information on the initiative, contact kmccrimon@ncsmartstart.org

 

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