School Readiness

School Readiness is a grant that districts can apply for, with the purpose of helping families access high-quality early child care and education. The intention is to help high-need communities prepare children for success in Kindergarten. Many of the slots in our FRC Pre-K are funded by School Readiness, which is how we’re able to provide a sliding scale fee to our families. To be eligible for a School Readiness slot, a child must be a Branford resident between the ages of 3 and 4. The cost of School Readiness slots will vary according to a family’s current household income.  

 A School Readiness grant program offers benefits at the individual, family, and community levels. Among these are:   

• promoting health and safety and preventing/minimizing developmental delays in children prior to their fifth birthday 

• integrating children with disabilities into programs available to children who aren’t disabled 

• improving local options for early childhood care and education 

• encouraging family involvement 

• preventing duplication of services by encouraging coordination and cooperation among programs and providers 

• providing flexibility in implementation so that communities can tailor programs based on their specific service needs and unique resources  

 As a requirement of accepting School Readiness funds, districts must screen and monitor each student’s growth and development. One way that we do this is by using a screening measure called the Ages and Stages Questionnaire (ASQ). This tool is used to analyze a child’s development, from 0-age 5, in all areas: communication, gross motor, fine motor, problem solving, and personal-social. In addition, families can track their child’s development relative to these domains by utilizing an app called Sparkler. In addition to monitoring milestones, this app offers suggestions for play-based learning activities that support a child’s development Comment end