United Way Is Working to Improve School Readiness

When we look at the cycle of success it is easy to understand why School Readiness has been identified as a “stake in the ground” issue. After all, if a child is not ready to succeed when she enters school, then the likelihood of her graduating high school decreases significantly. If she does not graduate from high school, her ability to become self-sufficient is diminished as she is twice as likely to be unemployed than a high school graduate. And, when she does have a child, he/she  is likely to be living in a low-income household, with parents who are not high school graduates, or live in a single-parent household – all indicators in determining a child’s success in school.

Researchers agree that the following four indicators are the most critical when it comes to determining a child’s success in school:

• Low-income families
• Parents who are not high school graduates
• Single-parent homes 
• English as a second language 

Conservatively, it is estimated that more than 15,000 children under the age of 5 experience one or more of these risk factors. For long-term community success, it is critical to focus on a system to address these risk factors and ensure the success of all young children.

Consider These Facts. In Greenville County:

• 33% of children under the age of 5 (9,000) live in single parent homes
• 52% of children (14,000) under the age of 5 live in low-income families
• 20.3% of children (5,000) have parents who did not graduate from high school
• 6,000 students are enrolled in Greenville County Schools' English for Speakers of Other Languages program.

What United Way Is Doing to Impact School Readiness

Four core strategies have been developed in order to reach the community’s long-term (six years or longer) goals:

1. Advocacy – engage in community awareness, education and advocacy around the needs of Greenville’s children

2. Community Systems – promote community systems that support and drive the appropriate development of all children

3. Best Practice Programs – identify, support and strengthen best practice programs for early childhood development with an emphasis on addressing risk factors and eliminating barriers

4. Resource Development – leveraging dollars and human capital around the needs of target populations and to support community related efforts.

Challenges/Opportunities

We have an enormous opportunity to create a generation of children who are prepared, from the earliest moments, to succeed in school. Research shows that poor quality early childhood education is harmful to children. With proper attention to availability and affordability of high quality early childhood education, and with support from the business community, we can create a system of effective and cost-efficient early care and education that successfully prepares our children and their families for school.

Knowing that the single greatest indicator that determines a child’s success in school is the education level of the mother, we have an obligation to support our community’s mothers who are most at risk and most in need by making it possible for them to complete high school while having access to the support needed to fully develop as parents, women and self-supporting individuals.