90% of Brain Development Occurs During Ages 0-5
National studies show that children exposed to high quality early childhood education are 40% less likely to need special education or be held back a grade. They are also 70% less likely to commit a violent crime by age 18.
All school districts in Smith County offer Head Start or state/district funded Pre-K. Students are eligible for these programs only if they meet specific age and household income or language qualifications. All teachers in these programs have a bachelor’s or higher degree and the programs themselves are held to strict quality standards set by the federal and state governments. While the number of available spaces in Head Start programs are federally mandated based on funding, state funded Pre-K programs have the ability to educate a greater number of qualifying Smith County children.
Goals
- Increase quality ratings of Smith County childcare centers.
- Increase the percentage of early childhood teachers with a postsecondary credential.
Strategies
- Promote the importance of state and federal accreditation.
- Assist with early childhood center director and teacher training
- Promote existing training programs
- Foster partnerships between public and private centers to share best practices and resources
- Provide Smith County families with information to help them evaluate pre-kindergarten programs and ensure their children are ready for kindergarten
- Promote the Kindergarten Readiness Checklist
- Promote the progress report for Kindergarten Readiness
- Increase kindergarten readiness of all Smith County four-year-olds
- Determine common measures of kindergarten readiness
- Promote the importance of kindergarten readiness
