Message from our Executive Director

Thank you for visiting our Ready At Five website. Ready At Five, working with state and local governments, and community leaders, has made a great stride in improving the readiness for school of Maryland’s young children.  In six years, the ability of Maryland kindergarten students to do kindergarten work has shown significant improvement, jumping from 49% in 2001-2002 to 67% in 2006-07. An eighteen percent increase is rare in the education arena. It is a testament to the dedication and focus of Maryland’s stakeholders – early care and education professionals, teachers and administrators, parents and community service providers.

It makes sense to invest in our young children! Investing in the early years provides our best chance of propelling children toward success in school and life. Kindergarteners who are ready to succeed when they begin school are less likely to need targeted support or special education services, less likely to get in trouble with the juvenile justice system, less likely to drop out of school, and less likely to perform poorly in their adult jobs. All of these problems have profound costs—for children, for our communities, and for our state. One of the smartest investments we can make is investing in the early years and supporting the school readiness of all Maryland’s children.

Join with Ready At Five so together we can ensure 100% of Maryland’s children will be fully ready for school when they enter kindergarten. Please browse our website and decide how you can actively support the cause of school readiness.  You can purchase our Parents Matter publications, download ParentTips and other resources to support parents as their child’s first teacher and share them with a neighbor, a colleague at work, or a parent at a soccer or baseball event.  You can join Ready At Five’s ListServ to keep abreast of the latest research on the importance of the early years. You can attend one of our School Readiness Symposia and you can make a contribution to enable Ready At Five to continue to support the children and families who are not ready to succeed.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Louise J. Corwin

Executive Director

ra5@mbrt.org