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Good Beginnings - School Readiness

Every child enters school ready to learn. Families, schools, communities, and policy-makers must create a system that supports all young children's learning with respect for individual differences in physical, mental, and social-emotional development. The School Readiness Initiative focuses on the shared responsibility between the public and private sectors in providing quality early learning opportunities for all of Hawaii's young children.

School Readiness Definition

Why School Readiness is Important

• 85 percent of a child's development occurs in the first five years of life.
• Early education and care reduces the K-12 academic achievement gap.
• Early education and care minimizes future social costs and improves current workforce productivity.
• Kindergarten teachers across Hawai`i report that too many children enter kindergarten unprepared to succeed.
• Only 49 percent of all 3- and 4-year-olds attend preschool.
• Fewer than 60 percent of low-income 3 and 4 year-olds currently receive preschool subsidies.

School Readiness Task Force

Who is at the table?

Department of Education
Department of Human Services
Department of Health
Good Beginnings Alliance
Governor's Office
Hawai`i State Senate
Hawai`i State House of Representatives
Head Start Association
Hawai`i Association for the Education of Young Children (HAEYC)
Kamehameha Schools
UH Manoa College of Education
UH Center on the Family
UH Education Policy Center

School Readiness Recommendations

• Establish a community and family school readiness network to provide families, caregivers, and communities with the information and resources to ensure that children are ready to succeed in school;
• Provide voluntary statewide access to quality early childhood education programs
• Assess readiness of children and schools at the system level to determine progress and efficacy of school readiness efforts;
• Ensure that teachers and administrators are qualified in early childhood education;
• Develop Hawaii Preschool Content Standards that link to the K-12 Hawaii Content and Performance Standards;
• Establish a statewide systematic approach to address successful transitions;
• Convene a financing task force to determine financial and other resources needed to fund early education services, and school readiness services for families.

Guiding Principles

• Includes children, families, schools and communities;
• Is collaborative and inclusive;
• Focuses on results, outcomes and performance;
• Addresses the needs of each stakeholder, add value to their work;
• Respects the need for internal accountability of stakeholders;
• Learns from other states.

First Steps

• Publish Hawaii State Preschool Content Standards that link to the DOE Hawai`i Content and Performance Standards;
• Validate an assessment instrument that measures schools' readiness for children and children's readiness for school;
• Design and pilot a sustainable, replicable model and materials to support successful transitions;
• Develop family and community guidelines that offer suggestions of how families and communities can support young children's success in school;
• Raise awareness among families, communities, business leaders, and policy makers about the importance of early education through school readiness events.

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