Welcome to Montana Head Start As

The Ready Child Equation

+ Ready Families
+ Ready Communities
+ Ready Services
+ Ready Schools
= Children Ready for School

Children’s readiness for school is made up of multiple components and shaped by numerous factors. Improving school readiness, therefore, must address children’s development of skills and behaviors as well as the environments in which they spend their time.

Efforts to improve school readiness must address three interrelated components:

Children’s readiness for school
Schools’ readiness for children
The capacity of families and communities to provide developmental opportunities fro their young children

The Ready Child Equation describes the range of components that influence children’s ability to be ready for school:

Ready Families:
Describes children’s family context and home environment.

Ready Communities:
Describes the community resources and supports, including businesses & charitable organizations, available to families with young children.

Ready Services:
Describes the availability, quality and affordability of proven programs that influence child development and school readiness.

Ready Schools:
Describes critical elements of schools that influence child development and school success.

The Five Domains of School Readiness

A child’s readiness for school should be measured and addressed across five distinct but connected domains:

Physical Well-Being and Motor Development
Social and Emotional Development
Approaches to Learning
Language Development
Cognition and General Knowledge

National School Readiness Indicators Initiative: Rhode Island KIDS COUNT