From k-ready to healthy communities: How the world class greater Philadelphia partnership is promoting the adoption of kindergarten readiness assessments in greater Philadelphia

Building on the coalitions and priorities established through the Economy League's World Class Greater Philadelphia initiative, the United Way of Greater Philadelphia and Southern New Jersey is coordinating a diverse partnership effort to support increasing kindergarten readiness for children across Greater Philadelphia. This partnership builds on the United Way's ongoing leadership convening and advocacy efforts to increase access to quality early childhood education, and the regional education and talent development work currently underway as part of the World Class initiative. Ensuring quality early learning has a life-long impact on students' education. Given the influence of education and employment on health, as documented by the County Health Rankings, more kids ready to start kindergarten can lead to better health outcomes. In addition, standardizing kindergarten readiness assessments will provide a crucial foundation to educate parents about - and increase demand for - high-quality early childhood options, increase business leadership support for early childhood investments, and strengthen connections between early childhood and K-12 curricula. Crucially, the assessments will create better alignment between early childhood efforts and the k-12 education system – helping to drive improved programming and coordination between these currently disconnected systems. This session will provide an overview of our effort, and will demonstrate the importance of new coalitions to create transformative change in education, and ultimately health outcomes, for children. The presentation will feature the power of connecting education and health outcomes to the broader agenda of the World Class initiative and the challenges that adoption of new assessments face.