By Kathlyn Burkhardt
Special to NKyTribune
We are very excited to welcome students back to school. But did you know 90 percent of a child’s brain is developed by age 3? This means the earliest years, from birth through age 5, are the most critical learning times in a child’s life. Children who do not have high quality learning opportunities during these years will start school already behind. This is the No.1 reason that 50 percent of children entering kindergarten in Kentucky last year were not ready to learn.
With a rising sense of urgency, community partners have come together in Northern Kentucky to make a difference. Together we are launching an initiative to provide access to high-quality early learning for all three- and four-year-olds in our region. This initiative, Pre-K Works, is powered by Skyward, United Way’s Success by 6 and Erlanger-Elsmere Schools. It has been a year in the making. We believe it can be a model for Kentucky.
Erlanger-Elsmere Schools is proud to lead the way as a demonstration site for Pre-K Works. We are implementing an innovative model that includes multiple partners, shared resources, integrated delivery of child care and parent engagement, and collective measurement. By working together with many partners, we are sharing resources and creating more opportunities for families.
We believe all parents want their children to be successful. We have learned that many parents are simply unaware of the importance of learning during the ages birth to age 5 and the impact those years have on brain development.
Why is a school district stepping beyond the schools walls to do all this before children even enter the kindergarten classroom? Because we want more for our children ‒ more possibilities, more options for the future. That means more children ready to learn when they start kindergarten.
To that end, we believe we must go beyond what school districts have done before. We now partner with early childcare providers in our community. We offer free summer programs for incoming kindergarten students. We provide special resources for parents and very young children, such as United Way’s BornLearning. This month we have even launched a mobile app, providing every resident in the Erlanger-Elsmere School District free access to the early learning appFootsteps2Brilliance to download on their computers, smart phones and other devices.
Our schools can’t do this alone. Our local communities of Elsmere and Erlanger and many leaders in our region have been at the table. We all are strongly committed to changing the trajectory for many children and opening doors to the future that are being closed to them before they even start school.
For our children’s sake, for our region’s future, we invite families and the entire community to celebrate Pre-K Works, the wonderful new opportunities for children and families, and to join us in reaching our goal to provide access to high-quality early learning for all three- and four-year-olds in our region.
Kathlyn Burkhardt is the superintendent of Erlanger-Elsmere Schools.