[MUSIC] Hello and welcome to Education Matters, where we take a closer look at various topics in the world of education and break down how it matters to you.

I'm your host, Kelsey Starks.

It is back to school time, and for some students this will be their very first time going to school.

So tonight we are talking about kindergarten readiness.

Right now, more than half of Kentucky kindergartners going into their first day of school aren't considered ready for it.

Kindergarten readiness means a whole lot more than just knowing your ABCs.

It involves social, emotional, physical, and cognitive development benchmarks.

These are all skills that develop both at home and in pre-K classrooms, and the learning begins much earlier than you may think.

So we're going to discuss how parents can contribute to in-school success, where preschool options come into play, and what that landscape looks like right now in Kentucky, and why it all matters.

So we've gathered a panel of experts to take a deep dive into this topic for you.

Reena Grant is the director of Early Childhood and primary education policy and practice for the Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence.

She also has an extensive background in the classroom as a teacher, principal, administrator, and education consultant.

Doctor Donna Grigsby is a pediatrician and professor of pediatrics at the University of Kentucky.

She's also the statewide medical director with Reach Out and Reed, and Monica Hardin is a kindergarten teacher at Jessamine County Early Learning Village and an educator of 25 years.

Thank you all so much for being here and sharing your expertise with with us on this very important subject.

So, Monica, I want to start with you being in the classroom as a kindergarten teacher.

What are some of those things that you are looking for on that very first day of school when you get your new class?

>> Well, there are several obvious things that we would like for them to have.

Know their letters, know their numbers, know concepts of print.

Just when they see the McDonald's sign, they, you know, they know that that's a word.

But then there are other skills that I think some people may not really think about needing.

And one of those is the restroom.

It's one of the biggest stressors for five and six year olds is going to the restroom on their own.

And if you think about it, it's a very different situation from home or whatever setting they've been in to school where it's a public restroom and it has automatic flushers and they're loud and scary and, and that kind of goes along with a lot of executive functioning skills.

The, the ability to carry out all the tasks that they need to perform to get to their, to get to the restroom, to take care of themselves and their needs.

And even how do I ask?

I can't just leave the I can't just leave the room like at home.

I tell my students very often, you are not at home.

You can't just leave and walk out the door whenever you want.

So there's those types of things.

And then just the ability to communicate their needs to be assertive, be able to tell us their name.

You think that your children are very talkative and very outgoing, and then when they get into a situation where they feel uncomfortable, they do freeze and they, you know, sometimes have a hard time knowing what to say and what to do.

But most of all, I think for me is that kindergarten and school are fun.

You're there to learn and learning can be fun.

And it's a good, positive place to be and that your teacher cares about you.

Your teacher is a safe person that you can communicate to and talk with, and she wants to hear what you have to say and what you need, and wants to help you in every way that she can.

>> It is such a difference between.

Especially for children who have never been in a pre-K or other outside the home, just transitioning to asking to go to the bathroom.

And some of those things that I think parents probably don't think about when they think about getting ready for kindergarten.

But all of this starts far before kindergarten, in fact.

So I want to ask you, Doctor Grisby, talk about the learning process and how children are really born ready to learn, right?

>> Yes.

No.

I tell folks all the time when they talk about being ready to learn, oh, we've got to get our children ready to learn.

They're ready to learn inside the womb.

And so I notice in the newborn nursery, children who recognize their parents voices because they've been hearing those voices ever since their brain has been developed.

So I tell parents, you start getting your children ready for school from inside the womb.

And the moment that they come into the world, with your interactions with them, helping develop their brain and those important pathways to help them learn things like speech and language and symbols and how to how to communicate with others.

So that starts from the very start.

>> Yeah.

And Rena, I know this is a topic of you've done extensive research on too, and how that 0 to 5 age range is just so important.

>> Yes.

So we have a compelling neurodevelopmental research, essentially.

We now know so much more than we did before about how the brain develops and how the brain develops before birth in utero, and especially how the peak times that the brain is developing happens right before birth.

And during that first year of life.

Wow.

When we think that these kids are not yet interacting with us, their brains are rapidly developing during that time.

Their both their cognitive development as well as language as well as emotional development.

All those pathways are being formed in the brain during that first year of life.

So it's critical that, as Donna was saying, the interactions that we have with our kids, their sense of security, their understanding that mommy's coming back, or when I hear dad's voice, you know, I know that makes me feel secure.

All of those brain pathways are being developed during that time.

>> Yeah, it starts so early.

And Doctor Grisby, if we want to focus though, on this time period of, say, 3 to 5 as that pre-K, getting ready for kindergarten time, what's going on cognitively and developmentally at that stage?

>> Again, I want to move a little bit before that because we know there's so much development that goes on even before the age of three.

And a lot of it has to do with the environment you're in, the relationships and, and the learning environment that you have in your home.

So parents are critically important to helping their children develop those skills and to laying down those pathways in the brain.

And what's really important is that interaction between that trusted adult and, and that infant as they're that brain development is occurring.

So when I talk to you and when you as an infant respond back to me and I respond back to you, that just reinforces those communication pathways that that are important for me to develop my language and to develop my, my ability to learn and the parts of my brain that are responsible for my memory and for my behavior.

All of that happens very early on.

And by the time you get to that 3 to 5 age range, you already have, if we're doing our jobs well as parents and caregivers and people who love that child, when you get to three, you have this basic foundation, then you can start adding those finer, finer things that that we need to have for kindergarten to that brain that's already developing those very important pathways to help us communicate and interact with the world.

>> And so how do, how does that foundation, I guess, translate to that pre-K age range?

Rena.

>> Yes.

So when children are in positive childhood experiences, positive interactions, stimulating learning environments, again, their brains are developing as planned, as intended, and they come into a preschool space like a classroom or some other type of formal setting, just with a lot more readiness to engage effectively in, in those learning experiences.

So they are able to, for example, adapt when things are not going their way, they are able to be resilient when they try to attempt something and they don't get it right the first time.

So a lot of these self-regulation skills are rooted in positive childhood experiences and positive brain development.

So their ability, in other words, to thrive in those learning environments, they're, they're able to maximize the benefits of those wonderful experiences more when they have a solid early learning experience.

And by that, I mean before age three.

>> Right, right.

It starts so early.

And I imagine all of those skills that you mentioned are exactly what you're looking for in the classroom as a teacher, right?

>> Yes.

Especially the, the emotional regulation that you, that you mentioned.

And along with that, just the ability to hear, no, you can't do that right now.

And the ability to wait.

There are more children in a classroom than they, you know, may have been in, even in a, in a, in a daycare setting.

And so this ability to wait for their turn to sit and listen for, for in my classroom, I usually try to make it ten, maybe 15 minutes at the most.

And then we're moving or doing an activity.

But just can they sit and listen and understand and remember what I've told them?

Can they focus their attention on on me and what I'm saying?

And remember cognitively and when those foundations have been built, it kind of lessens the cognitive load for them so that they're able to process more of what I'm teaching them and what they're being required to learn as new.

>> Right.

And take it all in.

Yeah.

Interesting.

So as we are talking about kindergarten ready, we want to tell you, show you a little bit about what does kindergarten ready actually look like.

So in one Western Kentucky school district, they are working to get kids ready for kindergarten by expanding their preschool program.

Their KET is Laura Rogers takes us to Henderson County.

They are making some changes right now to devote more time and to those pre-K classrooms.

>> Henderson County Schools.

The mission is to provide extraordinary educational opportunities to every child.

>> And they want to begin those opportunities early and Life.

>> If students don't have early learning, they're already starting behind in kindergarten.

Research shows that if they come in, starting behind, trying to get those students caught up is a task.

>> So keeping them at or above grade level is imperative.

And that starts with a strong foundation.

In 2012, the school district opened the Thelma Beech Johnson Early Learning Center.

>> And it was our pursuit of excellence.

Then to have the best or one of the best standalone early learning centers in the state.

>> It's a busy place with an enrollment of 300 students, but administrators believe more kids could benefit if the classroom was closer to home.

>> For some of our families, transportation has been an issue in the past.

>> We're unique in that we are a consolidated city and county system, so that means we have students from the very perimeter of our county, and we have students from the inner city, parts of our town.

>> To increase access.

Henderson County Schools will now offer preschool instruction and four elementary schools, including in more rural areas like Spottsville.

>> It allows us to provide all day preschool for the maximum amount of students.

>> Doctor Lawson points to what he considers their success with early learning thus far.

>> This year.

This is the first class of students who went through them will be.

Johnson actually graduated from Henderson County High School, and Henderson County High School is a blue high school.

Blue is the highest achievement level for a Kentucky public schools.

>> We have a lot to be proud of with the data and the progress that we're making here in Henderson County.

>> Brandi Haley is director of accountability and assessment for Henderson County Schools.

She says they take several things into consideration when it comes to student achievement.

>> Attendance data.

We look at all kinds of data to help our students be successful because first of all, if the students aren't here, we're not going to be able to buy the instruction they need to help them be successful academically.

>> My mom worked in the preschool system in Henderson County schools for close to 20 years, so preschool has always been a part of my life.

I've always been around preschool students, preschool families.

>> Communications Director Megan Mortis says.

It starts building community and excitement around learning early on in life.

>> Friends who has friends.

>> Getting children acclimated to a school setting.

>> Starting a preschool.

You're going to make connections with your third grade teacher, your fourth grade teacher.

Just building those connections and learning those foundational skills early.

>> They've been making connections with many of these families already through their preschool bus, which visits places like libraries, gyms, and parks.

>> Ultimate goal was for our preschool students to have more opportunities with their families, to really work one on one together to learn more.

>> They hope the bus will also encourage families to enroll their child in a preschool classroom.

The preschool program is designed to make learning fun and interactive.

>> So one thing about preschool, even kindergarten, is learning through play how Central that is.

And so we invested in new playground facilities for the preschool.

>> It is an investment of time, money and resources that Doctor Lawson says aligns with the school district's mission.

>> And there is a financial responsibility to this, but it's an investment in the students education, which is what we're here to do.

>> We realize that this is what we want to do, this is what's best for our community, for our children.

And so we just took the bull by the horns and we're making it happen.

>> Well, can we change and see what they say?

>> Well, I'm Rena, you just said I love that because I think a lot of people, you know, see the that data now that we have seen the data that has come out of these early learning programs and how much that can make a difference, right?

>> Yes.

Kelsey actually, we've had a lot of data nationally in the field of early childhood that tells us that children who are in high quality early learning settings, and most of the time those are formal settings that they tend to do well in school.

They tend to be referred to special education less.

They tend to have less behavior problems.

They tend to matriculate through the grade levels well, and they are more likely to graduate high school and go on to college.

So even, you know, in their academic career, we see that the difference for these children.

But now we are seeing that data play out in all across Kentucky, you know, and so more and more school districts.

I'm so happy to hear more and more school districts and school leadership are understanding that early childhood education is so important to the mission of of public education, period.

>> I think we are seeing a lot of those different programs pop up all across our state.

And as you mentioned nationally, we talked a little bit about how that early learning starts at home.

What about those students who don't have that access availability to make those connections early?

What, what, how do we measure that and what are we looking for to help some of those students and not fall through the cracks?

>> Right.

Well, I think one thing that's really important is that we know so many children in Kentucky don't enter formal child care settings.

They are cared for at home.

And that's where I feel like the community, people who have an opportunity to interact with families and that have young children, the pediatrician, the family physician, the health care provider, the the church, you know, the faith communities can also help in, in encouraging those families.

And, and I loved what we saw in those videos because it wasn't just children sitting there.

It was it was children flipping around and playing and, and interacting with the world and, and sharing books, not just having books read to them, but having books shared with them.

Because sometimes our families aren't confident in their own abilities, but everyone can can look at pictures and point to pictures and, and share with their children.

And so, you know, it's, it, it's never too late.

You know, we want to start early.

And those of us that have the opportunity to work with families, with young children, I feel like it's important for us to say, hey, just play with your child, sing to your child.

They don't really know that you're not, you know, a fantastic singer.

They just know that you're, you're doing things to, to play with them and to stimulate their brain and to teach them new words.

And so those of us that work with those families on any level can do that and can help those families have more meaningful interactions with their with their children.

>> It's a lot more simple than parents may think, right?

Yes.

>> Kelsey.

Actually, there's this.

Donna knows about this.

There's this concept called serve and return, which is essentially the ability of a child to have back and forth conversation with an adult.

And that is actually a great indicator of positive child development and their later success.

And so, you know, institutions are now really trying to measure that the, the, how much children can go back and forth, how many times can I go back and forth with Donna?

Right.

So that's something that families can really work on very easily, right?

Keep helping your child to answer back.

So asking and answer questions, that's a foundational skill that we actually look for.

As you know, we've said earlier in kindergarten, it's the ability to ask and answer questions.

And but that starts with that serve and return that you can work on even from age two.

>> Oh, yeah.

Or even in infancy, you know, you can you see a baby's face when you speak with them and they are looking at you and you can see that that brain development happening while you're interacting with them.

And just that, hey, I'm, I want you to hear my voice.

I want you to see my face.

I want you to experience what's going on around you.

And we know that families that that talk a lot during the day, their children develop.

And you're, you're like, oh, your kid must be really good at talking.

And they, they hear so many more words and it's so enriching to their brain development for you to talk.

Even if you're walking through the grocery store and you're saying things like, oh, look, there's a box of cereal.

What color is that box of cereal?

Or, oh my goodness, let's go change your diaper.

And you're talking to them while you're changing their diaper.

Or, oh my goodness, look at that.

Look at that bird that just flew by.

And you know, where's that?

Where did that bird go?

Just all of those things help lay down those important pathways that help that brain develop so that when that child gets older, not only do they enjoy that interaction, but they enjoy learning about new things they enjoy.

You know, I laugh and tell parents who would have ever known the word pterodactyl without a book about dinosaurs, you're never going to use that word in your everyday vocabulary, but bringing books into your home is going to introduce words that your child may have never heard.

>> Right.

And there are some developmental milestones, too, that parents can keep an eye out for.

And that is the the CDC has a developmental milestone tracker.

So how how can parents, I mean, obviously when they're meeting with their physician.

Sure.

They go through those.

And that's something parents should be looking out for.

>> Yes.

And and we see children very frequently in the first two years of life.

And so just that opportunity to say, how do you think things are going?

And, and now that a lot of medical practices or, or health care practices have the opportunity for patients to reach out to you between visits, they can make you aware of, of things that may have come up.

And maybe I'm not due to see you for a month or two, but I can reach out to you and say, hey, I'm a little worried about this.

Tell me a little bit more.

What do I need to be?

You know, what do I need to be doing in the meantime?

>> And finding those or the early intervention and some of those things makes such a huge difference.

There is a test, though, that kindergartners do before going to kindergarten, and you may have heard of it.

It's called the Brigance Test.

And KET Christie Dutton is going to give us an inside look at how some of those new students are tested and what parents need to know about this test for incoming kindergartners.

>> Before all these chairs are filled with Kentucky's newest students, each of them will take the Brigance assessment, and it's a snapshot to help determine if the children are coming in ready to learn at kindergarten, or if they'll need some extra support.

Five year old Juliette may think she's just playing games with her teacher, but every answer helps paint a picture of how ready she is for kindergarten.

>> And I.

>> The Brigance Kindergarten Readiness Screener gives educators an early look at the skills kindergartners are bringing with them on their first day of school.

>> Go all the way over here.

Where do I go?

Yes, ma'am, I go down.

>> Longtime educator and kindergarten teacher Jenna Kiser.

>> This is my 31st year teaching.

>> Is testing the incoming kindergartners at J. Graham Brown School in Louisville.

She says it's important for families to know this isn't a pass or fail test.

>> I'm sorry.

You got them all.

>> What they score on this is not impact their kindergarten career for us.

We're going to teach everybody that comes in.

They come in and score is not ready.

They're still going to stay, and we're going to work as hard as we can to make sure that by the time they go to first grade, they're all at the same spot.

>> The Brigance test, which takes about 15 minutes, isn't just about knowing your ABCs and one, two, three.

>> This many dots and this many doctors.

How many dots?

>> Three.

>> It's also a snapshot of where that student is developmentally.

>> Can they use their fork?

Can they potty independently, things like that.

So there's readiness is not just academic.

>> So take a break from the flash cards.

Kiser says the most important kindergarten skills can't be found on a worksheet.

>> Being with other children, knowing what the taking turns.

The.

The.

The interacting with others.

The.

Waiting in a line.

>> According to the Kentucky Department of Education, the Brigance assessment tested child's skill in five areas cognitive development, language, motor skills, self-help skills and social emotional development.

Statewide readiness scores fell in the years following the Covid pandemic, but Kiser believes this new class of kindergartners will show that readiness is on the rebound.

>> So I'm hoping that the trend is moving back the other way.

Now that these kiddos have gotten to be in school and and have experiences outside of just the home.

>> Three decades in the classroom has given Kiser a front row seat to how kindergartners have changed.

>> I think a change that I have seen over time, fine motor skills are not as good coming in.

>> These are skills like gripping a pencil or using scissors.

And while kindergarten instruction has also evolved over time to become more academically rigorous, Jenna Kiser hopes one thing never changes.

>> They need to be kids.

They're five.

They're supposed to be.

They've only had like five Christmases.

That's not very many.

So they need to be children, and they learn best through play.

Perfection.

You did it, Miss Juliet.

>> Behind every kindergarten readiness statistic is a child entering a school for the very first time.

The Brigance assessment aims to make sure each child starts their educational journey on the right foot for KET.

I'm Christy Dutton.

>> So the Brigance test particularly talk to tell us a little bit about that and and what what are we looking for there and what happens when students are falling behind in some of those areas?

>> Yes.

So the Brigance test is just a 10 to 15 minute test administered by a teacher to, to an incoming kindergartner or to a kindergartner.

And it basically gives us a snapshot.

It's the best way to describe it.

It doesn't really assess deeply how ready that child is and a multitude of skills, but it assesses simple things that give us an idea of how ready this child will be for that kindergarten experience.

And so it is important for us to, to know that there are skills there, such as around physical development, right around language development.

Like you said earlier.

Do I know my name?

Can I can I say my name?

Do I know my phone number?

Things like that that also have to do with safety and awareness of, of the environment in the world.

Right.

So but but really the Brigance is just that it is just intended to detect if there are any potential delays, for example, in, in development.

And so it is important that that families know that if their children are, are in rich environments, they will most likely perform well on, on these very simple indicators.

Right, right.

But there are many ways that that parents can know this long before the brigands is given to their child.

So again, it's really important that parents understand that there there are developmental screenings out there that are available, like the ages and stages questionnaire to, to assess how kids are developing on those developmental milestones that you talked about on the CDC tracker.

And so there are many places, even public libraries are able to provide these developmental screenings and give and of course, pediatricians.

>> Offices from the pediatrician.

Sure.

Yeah.

>> Yes.

So so they can have an idea of how their child is progressing long before kindergarten.

>> Right, right.

And so the results of that.

Brigance how is that used when you're getting those kindergartners?

>> It's used just like we said, we.

That gives us a picture of what they know and what they don't know.

And the gap starts that day, right?

Like we've said before, success in the classroom builds on success, and those children that are successful will become more successful.

So exposing them to everything that you can really matters.

Yeah.

The Brigance goes through even some coordination, right?

Activities, fine motor skills.

They're asked to write their name and copy a picture.

And so we we get a good picture of where we need to start automatic catching up and where kids are ready to start from day one.

>> Right, right.

And when we're talking about that, those pre K options, we, I know we hear a lot about we, we saw a little bit about the preschool expansion in one county.

We have universal pre-K programs, pre-K for all or some pilot programs in Kentucky.

What, what are your thoughts on that expanded pre-K and how important that is to figure out how it works in different communities?

>> Yeah.

So absolutely expanding access to high quality early experiences and early environments.

And it is really important in whatever shape that takes, right?

So expanding access to state preschool programs, of course, is, is important, but that's one piece of the puzzle.

In the early childhood ecosystem, you have head starts, you have private childcare and family child care homes.

And it's important for us to provide families with choices.

Kelsey.

I think that's that's the most important thing to me is that we know we are convinced of the importance of this early period.

And families have different unique needs all across Kentucky.

Some families need half day programs.

Some families need a full day in order for them to go to work, or to go to school and pursue higher education.

So some families need third shift.

And so it's really important that we have quality choices for our families.

So as we think about expanding access to high quality early care and education, we must do so, in my opinion, in a way that strengthens all the different components of that ecosystem, particularly when we think about in light of our conversation about child development happening at birth, before birth or at birth, the infant and toddler space is is an area that we really struggle to have more good options for families, right?

And so it's really important that we attend to the supply of, of options for families who are just beginning their family life with, with their youngest children, right?

And, and strengthening those options and the quality in those infant and toddler programs.

>> Yeah, absolutely.

I think the quality of child care in different communities varies and the opportunities to, to help build stronger programs for families and children in all of the communities across Kentucky is really very important.

>> Yeah.

>> And yeah, in terms of getting children ready for the classroom later on.

>> And very different.

But, you know, Kentucky has a very diverse makeup of different types of communities.

So I think what works someplace may work another place or may not.

So I think that's what we're seeing right now.

A lot of these different options pop up in different places.

Well, one of those options is in the city of Louisville.

They launched the Thrive by Five program two years ago.

This was their plan to help that quality access to early learning opportunities for every three and four year old in Jefferson County.

So this is a model right now, a pilot program that could be eventually used statewide.

So I had a chance to sit down with the leaders of that program earlier this summer to hear more about it.

Raelene Robinson is the executive director of Thrive by Five Louisville, and Doctor Thomas Williams is director of programs.

So Thrive by Five is Louisville's sort of solution to the tackling, the idea of universal pre-K.

And it's in a pilot phase right now.

So explain how how this works right now.

What's going on?

>> Yeah.

So we have just been operational for over a year and we started down this path by really listening to the providers and to the families to find a solution.

And so we heard from providers that, you know, the types of supports they needed.

And we heard from families about what their concerns were.

I mean, obviously early learning is very expensive.

That was a concern of families, but also the concerns from families about safety and feeling, you know, secure that they're dropping their child off to a place that's going to love them and nurture them.

And so it has really molded a lot of our programs.

And we've taken a different look at how we're implementing things such as our Family Access scholarship, which is really aimed at families who are just above the child care subsidy that the state offers.

And we're seeing that a number of our families are just over that threshold.

And so listening to families about what their needs are and then addressing them has been critical to how we're operating.

>> And Doctor Williams, explain how it's kind of set up.

You've got family navigators, you have these quality plus pilot centers.

Explain kind of the set up here.

>> Yeah.

So we have 26 pilot sites.

And so these pilot sites range in different areas of the city.

We have some for profit, some nonprofit different all star rating scores.

Some are rated A level five, others may be rated A level three, two and one.

So we have our quality plus sites and we're working very intentionally with each of the 26.

We have two providers, specialists who work very, very closely with the providers to work with them on their goals.

And so when I say goals is it's not coming from a top down approach.

We're listening to the providers in regards to our quality.

Plus, when I think of quality Plus, that's more of just providing the support and resources in order for sites to maintain high quality.

And so again, our provider specialists are working very intentionally with our providers around their goals and goal setting to make sure that they're measurable.

>> We do have some areas that we're asking our quality plus sites to focus on.

So focusing on things like staff retention and focusing on things like child developmental milestones.

And we're their voice comes into play is that we said, okay, these are our goals.

How many can you take on in in the next year?

So what are the areas that you're focused on now?

We are providing a financial incentive for those centers to meet those goals and to focus on more.

But ultimately, if a center comes to us and says, look, I really need to focus this next year on staff retention, then that is what we're going to follow.

We're going to follow their lead.

We're listening to them in a really meaningful way.

>> Yeah.

And to add on to that is that our provider specialists are not providing that direct support.

They're working with our partners in order to ensure that our sites are meeting their goals.

So for example, if they're if a site needs support on supporting children with challenging behaviors, our provider specialist would work with our partners could be childcare aware or four seeds to help bring in that support.

In order for that provider to be provided the strategies in order to meet their goal.

And ultimately, in order for that child to be successful in whatever area that they're working in.

>> I think everybody can agree of the importance of early childhood learning, right.

But you all have you're providing grants to these centers.

You're providing assistance to the families who, who need their kids to be there.

There's also money for these providers, specialists and family navigators.

So the question is, where is all of the money coming from and is it sustainable?

>> Yeah.

So thrive was founded on the belief that we can do this through a public and private partnership.

So Louisville Metro Council Mayor Greenberg have stepped up in a big way to support this initiative.

But we've also had a tremendous amount of support from the private philanthropic community, and that's local and national that we see that people are really wanting to invest in a long term solution to lots of things that are plaguing our state, right?

We know that throughout the state, workforce participation is an issue.

We know that our educational system, everybody's kind of coming together and supporting all of the work that we're doing.

And early learning is a really critical piece of that educational ecosystem.

>> And you all see this as an economic development program.

>> Absolutely.

You know, yes, there is an economic development around the workforce of the child care sector, of the people who are working in the centers.

But we are also seeing a ton of families just having to make decisions around whether they it's more cost effective for them to stay home or to put their child into care.

And through our family access scholarships, we are seeing early trends that a number of people who are requesting assistance, who do not meet that state threshold for income do want to go back to work.

They do want to be participating in our state's workforce.

And so I think that that's going to be a critical piece as we move forward.

Look, we're all trying to make Kentucky the very best that it can be.

We really want to make sure that we are a thriving economic engine.

And in order to do that, we have to be able to take care of the children so people can go to work.

>> Yeah.

And the other arm of that too, is these three and four year olds or three and four years old now, but they're eventually going to be part of the workforce, right?

So you want them to not only be prepared for kindergarten, but those, you know, academic success later.

Talk a little bit about how those years are so critical.

>> Oh, that's so critical.

When you think about the research, the research says that 90% of the brain is formed by the age of five.

And when you actually also think about the brain is that as the brain develops, children begin, or just people begin to think differently, right, as the brain matures.

So in regards to kindergarten readiness and developmental milestones is that, yes, we want children to be ready to start school.

When we begin to focus on those academic foundations, social and emotional, are you able to self-regulate?

But we also want to focus on child developmental milestones.

We think about those child developmental milestones.

We want children to be able to meet that skill by their age.

>> Yeah.

And then that sets them up for academic success later.

Yeah.

So is this model that's happening in Louisville.

Could this be a model for other communities across Kentucky?

And is that even a goal of Thrive by Five?

>> Yeah.

>> So we know that every community has different barriers when it comes to addressing early learning.

And so what the barriers are in Louisville may be different than the barriers in Harlan.

Right.

But what I do believe is the most critical piece that thrive has learned through our implementation is really this idea of listening, listening to what the barriers are.

Of course, there's data.

We all know the data.

The data is out there, but sometimes there's nuances in the data that you can only find through listening to constituents and parents and business owners about what they see as the barriers.

So I do think that a lot of the tenants around thrive can be replicated.

For example, our family navigation services, that is an incredible program that can easily be replicated in in a very meaningful way, whether you're in a big city or you're in a small county that only has, you know, 10,000 residents, you know, it just it, the idea of meeting people where they are is certainly something that can be replicated.

And I hope that we have an opportunity, you know, to talk to other communities about the thrive work and what that could look like.

>> Well, thrive by Five has been very successful so far in Louisville.

But that is just one part of Kentucky.

As you know, some of those other rural communities may not have that type of access or financial support to come up with sort of a public private partnership to expand preschool access.

So what are some of the other programs that you all are seeing that are helping work across the board?

>> Well, first of all, I have to mention Kentucky Hands is an evidence based home visiting program that we've had in Kentucky for a while.

And at some point, we expanded eligibility across the board.

It used to be just certain families, but now every new family is eligible to participate in Kentucky hands.

And Kentucky Hands is is a home visiting program where you have specialists, developmental specialists, who, who come into the home and work both with the parent and the child.

And this specialist can, can look for those developmental milestones, work alongside the mother or the father to look at the development of their child, and then provide them with activities, strategies to actually help that child's development in those areas where we might see gaps.

So that is one program that is already available for free across the state.

And we I think we can do a better job of, of making sure that hospitals, for example, are making families aware of, of this program and pediatricians offices and, and, and other places can, can help families know that this is available to them.

>> All of those resources available.

Another free resource that's so easy for parents is the Imagination Library that's available here.

And just reading to your kids makes such a big difference.

>> Absolutely.

And you know, Imagination Library went statewide in Kentucky.

So now we can say every county families can access this wonderful resource where kids receive books from birth, developmentally appropriate books.

They can get them in the mail from birth until they age out at five.

And how amazing is that?

And so, so communities work with the state partner, actually with the state.

So that's another form of, of private nonprofit and public partnership that allows families to develop those early literacy skills and early reading behaviors with their kids at home.

>> What are some other programs that you feel like are working across the board to reach all, all children where they are.

>> One easily accessible option are kindergarten camps that a lot of schools will host the weeks before school actually starts.

And that's a great opportunity that gives your gives every child an opportunity for boosting their confidence and their exposure.

Because they experience the school, they experience almost every aspect of their school day in the school setting with their teachers.

And it's just really easy.

In Jessamine County, we're having our first one this this year, so we're excited to have have more children know what kindergarten is like before they even get there.

>> Yeah, that is so important.

And knowing their teacher is one of those safe people that we talked about earlier, and just knowing the expectations of what the classroom looks like and feels like, it's so important to, to have that another resource.

Let's learn Kentucky.

I mean, that is something that is available statewide as well.

>> Absolutely.

What a great resource from KET truly.

And let's learn Kentucky are these essentially resources for caregivers and families of very young children, and they are aligned to our state early childhood standards.

So, so really what a great resource for families, along with the governor's Office of Early Childhood, also produced family guides.

That's what they're called.

And essentially, again, they're based on the developmental grade age span of children.

And these family guides give families very simple activities to do, to develop language, to develop social, emotional, wellness and skills in their everyday lives.

So they are aligned to the standards, but their everyday kinds of activities with things that they have at home, that they can work with their kids.

So there are free resources available to families.

But we must all make sure that families know about them and then can use them.

>> Yeah.

Is that something you face too, Doctor Grisby.

>> Yeah, and I was just sitting here thinking we talk a lot about directing families towards opportunities like the public library, you know, free resources that any family can access that are, you know, available in most communities throughout Kentucky.

So things that, that we take for granted sometimes in the bigger cities.

But we realize that in community centers, you know, those are there to help the community support families and, and the children.

So things like that.

In Lexington, we have a program called first five Lex that brings all of the folks in that are interested in early childhood, including the public library and, and early childhood experts and KET.

And just all of the I'm going to leave somebody out.

The Community Action Center and Council.

And so there are so many people that are interested in helping children and families be as successful as possible.

And resources are there that that are free for families.

Libraries always have Wright programs going on.

>> And what are you looking for when it comes to long term outcomes?

Why is this so important?

I mean, obviously we don't want children to fall behind academically, but in the long term, set some up for success.

Right?

>> Right.

And from my standpoint, when you look at the outcomes, the medical outcomes for people who don't have that academic success, that aren't able to be successful and get a good education, the medical outcomes are, are much worse than they are.

The life expectancy expectancy is much less.

And so knowing that as a health care provider, I have I have to be involved in helping families and children be as successful as possible because then they can grow up to be successful, productive adults.

>> Yes, we, we, we know we have evidence that children who experience those high quality environments in, in that birth through five span, they are more likely to graduate high school.

They are more likely to go to college.

They are more likely to earn a living wage, to earn more, to have a savings account, to own a home.

They are much less likely to encounter heart disease, diabetes, mental health.

They are even better parents themselves to their children.

So there's a multigenerational return on investment here.

So there are so many positives.

I love quoting one of my policymaker friends who who likes to say that early childhood is the silver bullet we've got.

>> Yeah.

>> Yes.

>> One of those programs that we have mentioned too, that is designed to help incoming kindergarten students and underserved or rural communities is called Kinder Boost, and it's a free ten day readiness program.

It's run by Save the Children.

KET Mackenzie.

Spink takes us inside that program to see how it's working.

>> Save the Children's Kinder Boost program is set up to help children.

It's a two week long program where we have children come into the school that they will be attending.

They get to meet their teachers, they get a snapshot of what school is going to be like.

They're able to learn routines and expectations of what kindergarten is.

>> It's been very beneficial to our district.

We have so many grandparents or other relatives raising grandchildren or even sometimes great grandchildren.

I think because of Kinder Boost, that's helped families, you know, kind of bridge that transition between I'm at home all day with my parents or my grandparents, aunt, uncle, whoever to actually be in, in a situation where their structure and rules, routines and things like that.

>> Lots of teachers tell us that our Kinder Boost program really sets their classes up for success, because these children that attend this program, they're used to the routines.

They know already what the expectations are.

They've learned during our Kinder Boost program how to walk in a line, how to eat in the cafeteria.

>> Those kids that attended Summer boost are oftentimes more at ease, more relaxed, and more willing to go throughout the day and are less reluctant to leave that parent.

>> In Kentucky, we know that about 50% of children are showing up to kindergarten the first day of kindergarten, ready to learn.

We see that that that percentage is significantly lower in a lot of rural communities in the state of Kentucky.

On curriculum standards, start reading skills, literacy skills by October 1st.

So if a child shows up to kindergarten and they're not able to recall their ABCs, they don't know their letters, they don't know their sounds.

Those children are starting behind.

We see that one of the main obstacles of children being kindergarten ready is access, just access to high quality early childhood centers, or just access at all.

We know in rural Kentucky there is a huge child care desert, and so there's so many children out there that would like the opportunity to attend a child care center.

They just don't have access to 1 or 1.

That's high quality.

Also, we we know child care is expensive.

So there's a lot of families that do not have the availability to be able to afford a child, a child care center.

>> We all have a general memory of our first day of school.

Even at 52, I have a memory of kindergarten and it can either be a negative memory or it can be a positive memory.

And sometimes those memories are what mold and shape us for the rest of our education.

I think that when kids come to school and they are afraid or they're anxious, and they're never really felt made feel to be at ease or supported, then they're less likely to be successful academically.

So when we can kind of guide them into the routines and reassure them and give them an opportunity to feel safe, then we see them blossom.

>> To close here, I want to ask you each what would your be be?

What would be your best piece of advice for families to help prepare a child for kindergarten?

And I'll start with you, Monica.

>> I think exposure and independence expose them to as many experiences and as much learning as you can and promote independence for them.

The the more tasks that they can do on their own independently, the more they will be successful in adapting to a classroom environment.

>> Great advice, Doctor Grisby.

>> I'm going to say it's never too early to start.

So from the very moment, well, even before the the first moment you meet your child, it's never too early to start helping their brain develop and helping them get ready to to enter school later on.

So that would be my take home message.

>> Yes, yes.

>> You stole my sorry.

Yes.

>> You can overlap.

>> Yes, but absolutely.

I, I would love for parents to understand that honestly, getting your kids ready for kindergarten when they're four or even three is like telling a senior in high school, it's time to get ready for college.

So if that doesn't make sense to you, then it absolutely doesn't make sense to wait until, therefore, to even think about kindergarten readiness.

And as Doctor Grigsby said, it's never too early.

And I would add to that bring the village along.

There are many resources out there, so ask the questions, look for the resources online, find that developmental milestone tracker and and educate yourself about how to be the best first teacher.

Because you are.

As parents, you are the first best teacher.

>> That's right.

Thank you so much for your time.

We appreciate you and thank you for joining us for this edition of Education Matters All about Kindergarten Readiness.

I do hope you've learned something new this evening.

And to help you navigate some of those topics we discussed, we have linked you up to this program and some of those resources we mentioned.

You can find that online at ket.org slash Education Matters.

You can view the program there and share it as well.

I'm your host, Kelsey Starks, on behalf of all of us here at KET.

Have a great night.