Taking data from awareness to action to improve school readiness for diverse young children

Applied Survey Research (ASR) has worked with the Santa Clara County Partnership for School Readiness, a large group of public and private funders, to evaluate kindergarten readiness of young children in one of the largest and most diverse counties in California. In 2004, 2005, and 2006, random samples of kindergarten teachers assessed the proficiency of their students across 23 readiness skills. These assessments revealed that – although many children are well-prepared for kindergarten – many lacked proficiency in self-regulation and language development. Not only were these children likely to live in at-risk families, but children low on self-regulation and language development also experienced rockier school transitions, were significantly more anxious, and expressed much less enjoyment for school. To better support the development of self-regulation and language skills, the Partnership convened Awareness to Action Study Circles in fall 2006. More than 50 local academicians and practitioners joined the circles to develop research-supported recommendations for teachers, parents, schools and communities. Informed by local readiness data, the study circles are driving community change by analyzing relevant systems – e.g., early child care and education, schools, health clinics – to determine the most powerful points of intervention, enhancing workforce development, identifying universal curricula for ECE and elementary grades, determining how to support the acquisition of English while retaining home languages, and disseminating tips for parents / caregivers to improve the overall school readiness of new kindergarten students. Methodology and findings have been shared across county lines and have garnered interest from communities from Illinois to Arizona.