The School Readiness Summit from Durham Public Schools

Understanding the Kindergarten process can be tricky.  So, Durham Public Schools is doing what it can to help us out.  Here's a great post from Zion about a Kindergarten resource from Durham Public Schools.  While the event has already happened you can definitely investigate future meetings, and the website listed at the bottom looks really helpful!

What it is: Sooner or later we all must embark on figuring out schooling for our kids. This past week I reached my first milestone on educating myself by attending the School Readiness Summit put on by Durham Partnership for Children and Durham Public Schools at the Durham Convention Center on Monday July 21st 8:30am-12:30pm. It was discussed how families, teachers, schools and the community can all contribute to improving school readiness and supporting a smooth transition to kindergarten for children in Durham. Through interactive presentations and neighborhood-based planning, we gathered information on our role in what we can do to help close the achievement gap. They provided a light breakfast,  held a raffle and kept the energy in the room high with mixing up our tables so we could meet new people.

The keynote speaker was Ken Smythe-Leistic from Pittsburgh who is a national consultant,  Pathways to Kindergarten Success Advisor and Assistant Director at the University of Pittsburgh office of Child Development. His research was both intriguing and informative on why Kindergarten success is so important.  In my own notes I learned the key element/predictor of Kindergarten success is parent involvement (who knew?). I hope they continue to put on events like this since it was so well received.

What I liked: There were so many different people who attended.  Although many educators were there,  I was glad to see commissioner Ellen Reckhow, and other community members in the room who advocate for early education.

What I would change: having this event on a Monday morning probably stifled the numbers.  I'm sure an even better turn out could have been had on a weekend. Also, I wish there could have been more men representatives. I saw 3 men in a room of 100+ people :(

Find more information on school readiness visit durhamgoestokindergarten.com

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