REDY, Set, Start!: School Readiness for All
(2014-2019)
The goal of the REDY, Set, Start!: School Readiness for All intervention is to increase the capacity for critical thinking and improve the language skills and academic readiness of students from underrepresented populations. The program is highly focused-addressing a specific aspect of a critical national problem (the achievement gap among gifted students) at a foundation period (preschool). With the support of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, its success will contribute to the knowledge in the field about ways to impact teachers’ knowing-in-practice so that they can successfully and systematically foster development in school readiness for children from any background. This intervention involved classrooms in Durham, Guilford, and Wake Counties in North Carolina.
- Literacy Promotion
REDY aims to promote literacy for all children. This program provides classrooms with library books, as well as an opportunity for students to add to their home library with books they can keep. Students take classroom books home to read and enjoy with their parents, family members, and friends. We believe that building literacy is the first step toward building school readiness.
- Teacher Training
We believe that changing teachers’ dispositions will have a profound effect on their teaching methods in the classroom. Teachers are trained to ask essential questions that are open-ended, to use higher order thinking questions, to promote metacognition, and to encourage student responses in complete sentences. Teachers are also encouraged to use reading books and visuals to provide more background knowledge about a topic.
- Assessment
REDY, Set, Start uses the Preschool Early Literacy Indicators (PELI), which measures alphabet knowledge, vocabulary and oral language, phonemic awareness, and listening comprehension.
