Kindergarten Readiness
“The single most significant factor influencing a child’s early educational success is an introduction to books and being read to at home prior to beginning school.”
— The National Academy of Education’s Report of The Commission on Reading
Why do we keep talking about kindergarten readiness?
Because almost half of Rochester’s children arrive on the first day of school without the skills necessary to hit the ground running. Robust research demonstrates that a child’s level of kindergarten readiness has a durable impact throughout their formal school years and beyond.
Kindergarten readiness is associated with all sorts of important measures later in life, including:
↑ high school graduation rates, self esteem, and levels of physical activity
↓ rates of obesity, substance use and anxiety
Not just a cute face.
Babies aren’t just adorable—they’re also learning machines, experiencing a once-in-a-lifetime explosion of neuroplasticity.
From birth to age 3, children are making one million new neuronal connections every second. By enrolling children at birth, the Imagination Library provides powerful tools to families to take full advantage of their child’s most potent developmental stages.
There’s no better investment than a developing brain.
Nobel Laureate John Heckman’s work has decisively demonstrated that the return on public investment is greatest at the earliest stages of life—years before a child even sets foot in kindergarten. The Imagination Library reaches families from birth onward, one of the few educational resources available to caretakers in the first years of life.
Regain a Lost Opportunity.
In spite of decades of research showing that the earliest years provide the most important opportunity to educate our children, we provide essentially no education funding at the national or state level for children from birth through age two—just 3% of the total per capita allocation for school-age children, per the Urban Institute. And after that, children ages 3-5 get just half of what their school-age peers receive.
Beat inequality to the punch.
Data from Stanford demonstrate that by two years of age, wealthier children’s vocabulary size is 50% larger than their peers from lower socioeconomic standing, and a six-month gap has emerged in language processing speed.
As Frederick Douglass said, “It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men.” The Rochester Imagination Library provides the tools to help families start off strong and take full advantage of their child’s most formative years.