Early Childhood
By 2028, Marin’s Early Childhood Education will prepare all children 0-5yrs, regardless of race, ethnicity, zip code or financial circumstance to enter school ready to succeed as measured by indicators such as the DRDP, Ages and Stages Questionnaires (ASQ) and health and income data.
This Initiative will focus on the following strategies:
Common Goals for Early Childhood Success: Identify a common vision, goal and metrics that will be adopted and implemented by at least 5 Districts.
High-impact, Community-Driven Strategic Shifts: Increase and improve practices and structures that support the design and implementation of community-driven, cross-sector, high-impact strategies in West Marin and Marin City.
Below is a list of Partners engaged in this Initiative:
- Bolinas-Stinson School District
- College of Marin
- Community Action Marin
- County of Marin
- Dance Palance
- First 5 Marin
- Horizon Community School
- Marin County Free Libraries
- Papermill Creek Children’s Corner
- Parent Services Project
- San Geronimo Valley Community Center
- Shoreline Acres Preschool
- Shoreline Unified School District
- Sausalito Marin City School District
- West Marin Fund
- Health & Human Services
About the Equity Gap
Many factors (barriers and opportunities) impact whether or not a student is ready to succeed in Kindergarten. Some of the primary factors identified by the team so far include:
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- Rural locations like West Marin lack early childhood education (ECE) infrastructure.
- Readiness starts with infants and toddlers. These early years are greatly influenced by family engagement.
- Early childhood education workers, from homecare to preschool, are often some of the lowest paid educators.
- Gaps are created by both access to preschool (i.e. available space, cost) and the quality of all early learning environments (daycare, homecare, playgroups, etc.)
- Differences in access to health and wellness identification and intervention services (e.g. vision, hearing, etc.) can setback learning from the start.
Related Resources & Blog Stories
