Explanation
Mayor Ginther’s vision for Columbus, America’s Opportunity City, is that every child is ready for kindergarten. Addressing early childhood learning means bringing awareness and resources to a critical learning stage in childhood development. Children who come to school ready to learn are more likely to succeed academically and in life.
To make sure our children are ready for kindergarten, the Office of Education uses different tools and collaborates with certain organizations in the preparation of our children. Ready4Success (R4S), administered by the Crane Center for Early Childhood Research and Policy at the Ohio State University, uses a multi-pronged strategy to support providers in preparing children for kindergarten success. The goal of the R4S initiative is to improve children’s outcomes and kindergarten readiness. It does so by focusing on the instructional practices of pre-kindergarten teachers.
For the 2022-2023 academic year, the Crane Center staff will continue to implement Read It Again (RIA), an evidence-based, low-cost instructional supplement designed to promote intentional teaching practices in early childhood education programs serving children from birth to age five. Offering RIA to all early childhood providers is aligned with, and is an early strategy of, the Future Ready by Five Strategic Plan driver one: providing development and education supports for all children. In addition to RIA, Crane Center staff will also develop and implement RIA-Math, a math curriculum supplement; and conduct and a mid-year student assessment.
2021 Ordinance 1408-2021 authorized the Office of Education to contract with the Crane Center for $360,000 to provide similar work during the 2021-2022 school year. Of this, Crane has $80,000 unspent. Therefore, the Department of Education requests permission to enter into a contract with the Crane Center for Early Childhood Research and Policy at the Ohio State University; to use the balance of fundin...
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