In 2003, the Council received a generous grant from the Annie E. Casey Foundation designed to support states in the development and implementation of comprehensive systems of early childhood education in low-income communities. The School Readiness Project aims to create and facilitate an inter-state learning community of six cross-agency state and local teams designed to connect various stakeholders in order to maximize their efforts to promote school readiness in low-income communities. The ultimate purpose of the project is for the teams to create and implement action plans to ensure all schools in high-poverty communities are ready to receive children from a variety of backgrounds.

Toward this overall goal of improving school readiness opportunities for at-risk youth, the Council provides technical assistance and resources to help states meet improvement goals and scale up effective practices. Specific project objectives also include working with states to

• assess the current quality and quantity of early childhood education opportunities available in low-income communities
• make connections among multiple stakeholders to foster a community of practice
• monitor and report on the progress of state plans around a core set of indicators developed by each state team
• establish mechanisms for sharing knowledge about best practices

To achieve these objectives, the Council plans to host two state team meetings during the project year, provide ongoing in-state technical assistance, develop a project newsletter and listserv, and develop issue briefs and other publications.  This project links and aligns with the Early Childhood and Family Education initiatives at the Council.

Project Staff
Alyssa Alston, 202-336-7050, alyssaa@ccsso.org
Morakot Masokas, 202-336-7035, morakotm@ccsso.org