Ready to Learn
About Ready to Learn
Ready to Learn is a 12-month school readiness project funded with $574,000 by the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Innovation and Improvement.
Ready to Learn Goal
Equip our youngest children with the proper readiness skills and knowledge so that they enter school with the best opportunity to succeed from the start.
What Ready to Learn Does
• Enhances and supports existing early childhood programs
• Supports parents as a child’s first and best teacher
• Builds literacy resources and skills for parents and children
• Strengthens support networks
Ready to Learn Partners
• WIC (Women, Infants and Children) Program
• Shady Dell Early Childhood Center
• Burrell Behavioral Health
• Mayor’s Commission for Children
• Community Partnership of the Ozarks
• Springfield-Greene County Library
• Parents as Teachers (PAT)
• City of Springfield
How Ready to Learn Helps
• Uses mental health professional to coach parents and school staff in dealing with children’s behavioral issues
• Builds community awareness and education on importance of school readiness
• Provides parent support in accessible locations to low-income families with preschool aged children
• Puts PAT staff on-site at WIC clinic to reach parents of young children and provides early health screenings and educational activities
• Provides story times for young children and mentors parents in learning to read to/with children
• Houses mini-libraries and learning labs at WIC and Shady Dell, as well as free book distributions at various points
• All Ready to Learn activities respect a child’s natural need for exploration, creativity, discovery, self-expression and build upon interests and prior knowledge of families. Utilizing parent workshops, family literacy activities, parent-child projects, and free book distributions we leverage our school readiness resources