Addressing the kindergarten readiness crisis
COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) -- More than half of children in Franklin County are not ready for kindergarten and leaders say that’s setting our community up for a future workforce crisis.
NBC4 has reported about a new special kindergarten readiness program, and has tracked its impact since it received city council funding a year and a half ago.
Now, it's beating expectations. Usually, kindergarten readiness programs bring a 20-30% improvement, but these results show students improved by double that.
More children in Franklin County are heading into kindergarten prepared. That’s because of a program Future Ready Five is carrying out across the county.
"To see that we're able to change that narrative and show that children can excel and move towards kindergarten readiness, you know, it beats the odds and it shows that it's not a matter of inability, but more so a matter of exposure," Future Ready Five COO Dr. Vanisa Turney said.
Future Ready Five has developed a set of assessments to help determine where children are in terms of being ready for kindergarten.
"We are targeting those centers that have the greatest needs. You know, the centers that are in the ZIP codes that show the lowest performance for the kindergarten readiness assessment. The centers that serve a great number of black and brown children. Our underserved communities," Turney said.
They test reading and literacy skills in the fall and spring.
In Fall 2024, 50% of children were testing below average on the Reading House Assessment Child Performance. 35% were testing average and 15% were above average. Spring 2025 results show that students improved, with 20% testing below average, 46% testing average and 34% testing above average.
The assessments also test literacy skills. This includes alphabet and letter sounds, emergent writing, oral language, print knowledge and phonological awareness. Scores rose in each of those categories.
"It feels assuring that we're on the right path," Turney said. "I am personally so excited to see that average increase. You know, in the fall our students came in, they took the initial pretest, but when we got to the spring, we saw an average percentage increase of 64%. And so that is huge for children to grow."
This program also focuses on teachers. They have regular training and can rely on each other to develop individual strategies to help each child.
"If we want to make sure that our county is thriving, we have to make sure that our babies are thriving and are put in a position so that they can thrive. And that's going to take an effort not just from parents and not just from their teachers, but from everyone in the community," Turney said.
Thirty-nine centers participated in the 2024-2025 program. Future Ready Five is going through applications right now to add centers for the next school year. They plan to add 17 more.