For the past five years, the Ohio Children's Foundation has led Pre-K Partners, a countywide effort to increase school-readiness among entering kindergartners. The project now includes kindergarten staff and entering kindergarten students and their families from six school districts in Franklin County: Columbus City, Groveport-Madison Local, Hamilton Local, South-Western City, Westerville City, and Whitehall City Schools.

There are three major components of the Pre-K Partners project:

Home Visits

Each spring, kindergarten staff visit the homes of children who will be starting school in the fall. Since 2003, kindergarten teachers, assistant teachers, ESL translators, and reading specialists have visited the homes of more than 3,500 children, including 1,668 children in 2006.

Handbooks for Families

Parents and caregivers of these children receive a handbook containing general information on what children need to be prepared for kindergarten, as well as district-specific information on enrollment, dates, referral offices and phone numbers. To date, 27,000 handbooks have been distributed, including 7,500 in 2006.

Backpacks

Children receive backpacks with summer learning materials to build readiness skills over the summer. In the past four years, Pre-K Partners has distributed 27,000 backpacks to entering kindergartners in Franklin County, including 7,500 in 2006.

If you are interested in replicating this program in your community, or if you have questions about the program, please call or e-mail the Foundation at 614/461-1939 or info@ohiochildrensfoundation.org.