October 2010
WaKIDS
 Helping Kindergartners Get Off to a Great Start
A new program in our state aims to help kindergarten teachers get an earlier and more complete look at the children coming into their classrooms, so that each child receives the support needed to be successful in school.
The Washington Kindergarten Inventory of Developing Skills (WaKIDS) is being tested this school year with 3,000 children in 120 kindergarten classrooms around the state. It creates an opportunity for families, teachers and early learning professionals to talk about an individual child's strengths and needs before school starts.
"If I know what language is spoken in the home, that's important information," said Loyal Heights Elementary kindergarten teacher Tricia Lepse. The Seattle school is participating in the WaKIDS pilot. "I also need to know what opportunities they have to see books, to be in a public library, to have access to a computer. I need to know if it's a two parent family. Maybe a parent is out of a job. That affects how a child learns and how they're going to come start their day with me."
Such conversations are then coupled with a more formal assessment of each child's social, emotional, physical and academic skills once school starts. The entire process is about making sure all kids get off to a great start in school.
"The first-year experience in formal schooling will really set the foundation for later on in life," Lepse said. "What we do in kindergarten is going to affect them all the way through their high school and college career."
The WaKIDS pilot was designed in partnership with elementary teachers and principals, special education specialists, early care and education providers, parents and representatives from Washington Tribal communities.
Watch Learning for Life: Helping Kindergartners Get a Great Start in School to learn more.
EARLY LEARNING COALITIONS
Collaborating and Connecting
 Thrive is excited to enter into another year of work with the 10 early learning coalitions we help support. These coalitions cover more than 90 percent of the state's population, and under the new Statewide Early Learning Plan, this local work will play an increasingly important role in helping Washington state improve the quality of early experiences for all children. We look forward to highlighting the coalitions' work around public awareness, champion building and literacy over the next year.
SEEDS TO SUCCESS
New Study Finds Targeted Grants and Professional Coaching Raise Quality of Child Care
 Last month, we finally told the world what we shared with all of you in June about the findings from a study conducted during the first year of Seeds to Success, the voluntary quality rating and improvement system for licensed child care that's being developed in our state. Our major finding was that when child care providers get one-on-one coaching and a modest amount of money to make changes to their program, the quality of the care they give children starts to go up - and pretty quickly.
The results from this study are a big deal for Seeds. Mathematica Policy Research, the independent research group that conducted the study, definitively said that that the coaching and funding made a difference.
The two-year Seeds to Success field test is now in its second year. More than 100 child care businesses and 300 child care providers in White Center and East Yakima and Spokane, Clark and Kitsap counties are expected to participate this year.
Experts agree that high-quality early learning experiences give young children the start they need to enter school ready to succeed. But, the quality of licensed child care in Washington varies dramatically, and the children who need high-quality care the most often don't get it. Seeds to Success is about raising the quality of care that many Washington families count on every day and giving families accurate and comparable information about the quality of child care programs in their communities, so that they can make the best choices possible.
Learn more:
LEARNING FOR LIFE
 For the past year and a half, Thrive by Five Washington and KING 5 TV worked in partnership to help raise public awareness about the importance of early learning. This partnership has now ended. Through weekly news stories, Evening Magazine segments, a public service announcement and three primetime specials, we've made about 30 million household impressions. We greatly appreciate KING 5's commitment to early learning and look forward to future partnerships with them. We also want to thank the Ackerley Foundation for generously supporting this partnership. All Learning for Life segments and specials can be found on Thrive's website.
Primetime Special: "How Babies Learn"
The first years of a child's life are incredibly important - they are growing and developing at an astonishing rate. About 85 percent of the human brain develops in the first three years of life. During this time, young children form the "wiring" needed to think, communicate, move and form attachments with those around them.
In September's primetime Learning for Life special, KING 5 TV News anchors Joyce Taylor and Brad Goode explored how babies think, how their brains absorb information and what every adult can do to give young children the best start in life. World-renown scientists from the Institute of Learning and Brain Sciences (I-LABS) at the University of Washington reveal their latest research of how babies learn.
'Learning for Life: How Babies Learn' can be viewed on Thive's website.
September's Weekly Segments
In September, we covered many exciting topics on Learning for Life. They included:
 State Releases 10-Year Plan for Early Learning: We talk with Dr. Bette Hyde, director of the state Department of Early Learning, and Nina Auerbach, president and CEO of Thrive by Five Washington, about the new statewide early learning plan, what big changes are in store to help young children and families in Washington state and what role parents and families play in the plan.
Helping Kids Successfully Transition to Kindergarten: We visit Beverly Park Elementary to look at the Kindergarten Transition Program, which helps kindergartners settle into their new school before the big kids show up and gives families and teachers a stronger connection. Beverly Park's Kindergarten Transition Program is supported by the White Center Early Learning Initiative's (WCELI), one of Thrive's two demonstration communities.
Play & Learn Time for Migrant Families: We travel east of the mountains to learn more about the Kaleidoscope Play & Learn at the Monitor Migrant Camp.
Improving the Quality of Licensed Child Care: We look at one child care center that received the benefit of coaching for providers and a quality improvement grant over the past year as part of Seeds to Success - the quality rating and improvement system for licensed child care that's being developed in our state - and the changes that have been made to improve the quality of care being offered to all children.
Helping Kindergartners Get a Great Start in School: We talk with a Loyal Heights Elementary kindergarten teacher, whose classroom is participating in the statewide pilot of a kindergarten readiness assessment process, and state officials to learn more about the pilot and why we need such a process in our schools. |
BIRTH TO THRIVE ONLINE
 Recent Highlights
Have you heard the latest from the world of early learning? Here are some of the hot topics from the past month:
Birth to Thrive Online: http://birthtothrive.thrivebyfivewa.org
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