The Youth Coordinating Board's School Readiness Initiative
is an effort to mobilize time, talent and resources to boost the
number of children who enter Minneapolis kindergarten ready to learn.
Three areas of focus include:
Improve the quality of childcare young children receive by
training and retaining excellent childcare and preschool teachers
throughout Minneapolis.
Mobilize the community around the critical importance of school
readiness efforts while helping families to support their young
child’s growth.
Develop ways to measure progress toward the goal of ensuring
all Minneapolis children enter kindergarten ready to learn.
Five Hundred under 5 (FHu5) is an effort to identify 500 children
under age 5 in two north Minneapolis areas, learn about their lives
and then enhance services and knowledge to help these children enter
kindergarten ready to learn and grow into productive, thriving adults.
Partners include the faith community, caregivers, child care centers,
schools, parks, libraries, residents and community agencies. FHu5
has t hree primary goals:
- Engage parents early and often in their child's school readiness
- Retain and expand high-quality early childhood settings
- Stabilize children in high-quality early childhood settings
Questions? Contact Carol Miller, Hennepin County,
612-348-8983, carol.miller@co.hennepin.mn.us .
Learn more with this fact sheet.
Here’s a quick
overview of some of the YCB’s School
Readiness Initiative activities.
YCB
Board EC presentation Oct 2006
Information You Can Use
Following are several resources the
YCB has developed that support parents, providers and policymakers
in their efforts to boost children’s
school readiness. If you would like copies of any of these mailed
to you, please contact Barb Nicol at barb.nicol@ci.minneapolis.mn.us.
So…how are the children?: A report on the school readiness
of Minneapolis children.
2006
report
2004
report
2004
positions
Plays Well With Others: A resource guide for those who work with
parents of young children to help them understand their children’s
social/emotional behavior and when to ask for help.
Plays Well
Fact cards for parents and providers: Simple tips that parents and
child care providers can use to support young children’s development
and important early literacy skills. Fact cards are also available
in Hmong, Somali and Spanish.
Talk,
read and write
5
Steps to choosing child care
Screen at 3: A joint campaign of the Minneapolis Public Schools,
the City of Minneapolis and Hennepin County to encourage more Minneapolis
children to have their early childhood screening done at age three,
so any learning or health problems can be identified earlier and
help provided sooner.
Screen at 3
Screen at 3 in four languages
Children’s social and emotional development:A group of early
childhood and mental health professionals developed this list of
key issues around early childhood mental health.
Key Issues in Early Childhood
Mental Health
Links
T.E.A.C.H. (Teacher
Education And Compensation Helps) or RETAIN
Click here if you're a child care provider in Minneapolis, because
you might be eligible for a scholarship to get further training or
a retention bonus for staying at your child care job.
PreK Primary Project and BEAM Click here to
learn more about two pilot projects that are helping child care providers
assist children with social and emotional development.
Early Childhood Information
Station
University of Minnesota Center
for Early Education and Development
Minnesota Child Care Resource
and Referral Network
Minneapolis Public Schools
Washburn Child Guidance Center
Minneapolis Public Library
Early Childhood Resource and Training
Center
Want to learn more about the YCB School Readiness Initiative?
Contact
Barb Nicol at
612-920-2279
or barb.nicol@ci.minneapolis.mn.us.
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