Kindergarten Readiness and Early Learning Survey Results in Altgled-Riverdale

In 2012, BPI launched an early childhood learning initiative in Chicago’s Altgeld Gardens/Riverdale community in partnership with a coalition of some 30 diverse organizations, including schools, churches, community organizations, community residents, and others.  Our goal is to ensure that all children in the community are succeeding by third grade—cognitively, social-emotionally, and physically.

Recently, the Altgeld-Riverdale Early learning Coalition decided to dig deeply into ways to improve kindergarten readiness and to examine beliefs and perceptions of Pre-K and early learning programs in Altgeld-Riverdale.

To help, the Coalition turned to researchers from Chapin Hall, a policy and research center for children and families at the University of Chicago.  A Chapin Hall community survey revealed that both educators and parents with a high school education identified social-emotional skills (such as play, curiosity-building, and cooperation) as equally important as academic achievement in predicting future success in school.  However, parents who had not completed high school rated only academic skills as the best predictor of future success.  This finding suggested to Coalition members that we have an opportunity to inform more parents about the importance of social-emotional skills to their children’s future success.

Our Altgeld-Riverdale Coalition has also turned to Dr. Kate Gottfred, a certified speech and language pathologist and President of LEAP Learning Systems, to assist in our early learning efforts.  Dr. Gottfred has investigated the language gap among first- and second-grade students on Chicago’s West Side.  Her findings are significant: many students in high-needs schools are missing out on key language development opportunities between ages zero and three—and the academic and social consequences are considerable.

The Coalition plans to use the Chapin Hall data and Dr. Gottfred’s findings to introduce new programs that will better prepare children for kindergarten and increase enrollment in high-quality early childhood programs.