Building an Early Learning System
for Ohio's Young Children

What’s the Problem We’re Trying to Solve?

Decades of research tell us that the first years of life are crucial to the development and functioning of the brain and that early experiences affect learning, as well as the social and emotional development that are of fundamental importance to children’s well being and future success. It also confirms that what children know and can do when they start school helps determine their success in the classroom, in the workplace and throughout their lives.

Yet, nearly one-third of the Ohio children entering kindergarten each year are not prepared to succeed as learners. They require special intervention services and several thousand of them end up repeating kindergarten or another grade during the elementary grades.

Why is Early Learning a Key to Ohio’s Future?

A new economy driven by knowledge and innovation has emerged in Ohio and across the nation. It is reshaping our economic landscape, just as it is redefining the foundations of success for the state and its citizens. It is positioning knowledge and skills as the principal drivers of success for individuals and for our state’s sustainable economic growth.

To make Ohio competitive in this environment, we must improve the performance of our schools. But without an effective early learning system, many of our children will not be able to benefit from these improvements. They will be left behind with fewer opportunities for success in school and the workplace.

Children who start school ill-prepared tend to have a wide range of future problems. Therefore, it is not surprising that recent studies show that high-quality early learning programs improve school readiness and promote children’s long-term academic success. Investments in early learning also cut future program costs through the reduced need for special education, less grade retention, lower teacher turnover, increases in students’ future earning capacity and a powerful reduction in juvenile and adult criminal activity.

Lack of school readiness is damaging for the children who start behind and it is expensive for society as a whole.

Even among three-year olds, the differences in children’s literacy skills are startling, with children from high-income families demonstrating higher skills than low-income children.

Research shows that there is a cause-and-effect relationship between society’s failures to meet young children’s essential needs and future social costs and problems.

This is why Ohio has worked to elevate early childhood services — to help young children develop physically, socially and emotionally, and to develop their basic intellectual skills. It is our best opportunity to close the achievement gaps we find throughout our education system.

What does “School Readiness” Really Mean?

Readiness for school success has four elements.

Ready Children. Ready children are prepared socially, emotionally, physically and intellectually and are positively inclined to use their capabilities to succeed as learners.

Ready Families. Ready families recognize they are their children’s primary teachers. They provide experiences for learning by reading to their children and expanding their horizons, interacting with them, ensuring their nutritional needs are met and providing guidance on activities needed for healthy social and emotional development.

Ready Early Learning Settings and Schools. Ready early learning settings and schools are prepared to support the learning, development and school readiness of young children.

Ready Communities. Ready communities work toward meeting the needs of young children and their families. Community leaders recognize their role in working with state and local leadership to ensure effective and affordable family services related to physical health, mental health and early learning.

What Has the State Board Directed
the School Readiness Solutions Group To Do?

Helping children achieve school readiness cannot be accomplished by a single agency or individual. It demands strong leadership and effective public-private partnerships. It requires a comprehensive, coordinated statewide system for school readiness.

This is why the State Board of Education has convened the School Readiness Solutions Group. The State Board is looking for a clear vision and a strategic plan of action for school readiness that addresses the roles and relationships among parents and families, schools, employers, community-based organizations, civic leaders and the state of Ohio – and that meets the early learning needs of children from birth through kindergarten.

The School Readiness Solutions Group has been directed to prepare a compelling road map that, when followed, will create a high-quality early learning system that generates widespread understanding and support for school readiness, focuses on results and ensures that any child has access to high-quality early learning opportunities. Specifically, the State Board charged the School Readiness Solutions Groups with addressing four questions:

What is required to build a high-quality, results-driven early learning system that promotes child development and learning, reverses underachievement in schools and closes the achievement gap separating students by race, ethnicity, income and geography?

What is necessary to ensure the availability of high-quality early learning opportunities to all families who want it for their children?

What family and community supports must be in place to make sure that parents, as well as the important people and community organizations in every child’s life, have the knowledge, opportunities and incentives to support children’s growth and development?

What strategic investments are necessary to ensure that financial resources are in place to support universal school readiness for all Ohio children from birth though Kindergarten?

The Solution Group’s members come from all regions of the state and represent a variety of professions, disciplines and points of view. Carl Kohrt, CEO of Battelle, is serving as state chair; and Senator George Voinovich is the group’s honorary federal chair.

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For more information, visit the School Readiness Solutions Group’s Web site at www.schoolreadiness.ohio.gov. Or contact the Ohio Department of Education, 25 South Front Street, Columbus, Ohio 43215, by calling 614.466.3218, or at SRSG.Mail@ode.state.oh.us.