NCJ Number
207337
Date Published
2003
Length
11 pages
Annotation
This chapter addresses the developmental continuum of services needed, specifically in the school-readiness arena, for those at-risk children within the 0 to 5 year-old age group.
Abstract
While the local partnership in the delivery of effective community-based services for at-risk youth should deliver services according to the need and commensurate resources of the local citizenry, the primary purpose of the partnership should be to deliver school-readiness services. This provides the basic motivation to build an effective and efficient local service delivery infrastructure. This chapter, goes beyond getting a local partnership up and running effectively and addresses the larger services needed to help a child be prepared for the first day of formal schooling. When addressing the needs of the preschooler, kindergartener, and the first grader (the 0-5 year-old age range), it is necessary to consider the appropriate learning/teaching environment. School readiness for children must be thought of in terms of its connectedness to the age-appropriate needs of youth as they reach and express their potential with the ultimate purpose of returning to the community the measures of strength and human capital the community provided its children as they grew. The chapter is divided into six sections: (1) defining school-readiness; (2) the execution of local school readiness programming through child care and education, health care and education, and family support services; (3) child care affordability, accessibility, and quality; (4) health care and education; (5) family support services -- skills building, resource center and single point of contact, and training, assistance, and outreach; and (6) giving children the “freedom to become” -- facilitating children to realize their potential so that society may enjoy productive, contributing, and involved teens and adults.