Parents and families are a child's first teachers. Ready Families are those who actively nurture the emotional, physical, and intellectual development of their children. Key performance measures benchmark our success in supporting culturally sensitive, community-based efforts to educate and inform families in brain development, health and wellness, literacy and early learning.
In addition to providing high-quality classroom based services to at-risk children, Head Start and Early Head Start programs provide wraparound services to parents including family support and assistance, health education and social service referral. In Arizona, less than 60% of impoverished 3-and-4 year olds are enrolled in Head Start.
(Source: Children's Action Alliance: Measuring School Readiness--How Do We Know When We're On Track?)
Children who have been immunized are protected from a range of dangerous diseases, and they, their classrooms and their communities are safer and healthier as a result. Today, 79% of Arizona children under age 2 are immunized.
(Source: KIDSCOUNT 2003)
Parents and families are critical to helping children develop and learn. Supporting libraries in child care centers will increase parents' access to resources and provide opportunities for parents to support the literacy development of their young children.