Preparing Denton County children for school
In 2012, the updated United Way of Denton County Community Needs Assessment estimated that approximately 8,217 Denton County children under the age of five were living in poverty. Research shows that when these children enter school, they are behind in basic but critical skills, such as reading, math and vocabulary. Access to quality pre-school education has been proven to have long term effects on students including increased graduation rates, and decreases in behavior problems, crime, and delinquency.
To ensure that our children are prepared for school, United Way of Denton County, the Denton Independent School District, and the City of Denton have created Denton County's first Pre-Kindergarten Coalition and are implementing projects and programs to address our community’s needs. The goals of the Coalition's community partners are to increase kindergarten readiness, provide equal access to parent resources, and to promote lifelong learning and success.
As an example, Ready Rosie is an innovative, locally developed, online school readiness resource that sends a daily email to parents, caregivers, and teachers with a short video of an interactive activity that can be done with young children to encourage learning foundational skills. ReadyRosie subscriptions are currently being provided at no cost. Parents, grandparents, caregivers, teachers, an administrators can sign up to start receiving this resource at http://www.dentonisd.org/readyrosie To find out more, watch this informative video, or check out these English and Spanish example videos!
Click HERE to access Child Resource Directory!