Starting School Healthy and Ready to Learn: Using Social Indicators to Improve School Readiness in Los Angeles County

Details

• Journal Article:
  Preventing Chronic Disease (PCD)
• Personal Author:
  Wold, Cheryl ; Nicholas, Will
• Description:
  Background ; School readiness is an important public health outcome, determined by a set of interdependent health and developmental trajectories and influenced by a child's family, school, and community environments. The same factors that influence school readiness also influence educational success and health throughout life. ; Context ; A California cigarette tax ballot initiative (Proposition 10) created new resources for children aged 0 to 5 years and their families statewide through county-level First 5 commissions, including First 5 LA in Los Angeles County. An opportunity to define and promote school readiness indicators was facilitated by collaborative relationships with a strong emphasis on data among First 5 LA, the Children's Planning Council, and the Los Angeles County Public Health Department, and other child-serving organizations. ; Methods ; A workgroup developed school readiness goals and indicators based on recommendations of the National Education Goals Panel and five key domains of child well-being: 1) good health, 2) safety and survival, 3) economic well-being, 4) social and emotional well-being, and 5) education/workforce readiness. ; Consequences ; The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors and First 5 LA Commission adopted the school readiness indicators. First 5 LA incorporated the indicators into the results-based accountability framework for its strategic plan and developed a community-oriented report designed to educate and spur school readiness-oriented action. The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors approved a countywide consensus-building plan designed to engage key stakeholders in the use of the indicators for planning, evaluation, and community-building activities. ; Interpretation ; School readiness indicators in Los Angeles County represent an important step forward for public health practice, namely, the successful blending of an expanded role for assessment with the ecological model.
• Subjects:
  • Child Health Services
  • Child, Preschool
  • Early Intervention (Education)
  • Health Planning Councils
  • Health Promotion
  • Humans
  • Infant
  • Infant, Newborn
  • Public Health Administration
  • Quality Assurance, Health Care
  More +
• Source:
  Prev Chronic Dis. 2007; 4(4).
• Series:
  Community Case Study
• ISSN:
  1545-1151
• Document Type:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Los Angeles, CA
• Location:
  North America
• Volume:
  4
• Issue:
  4
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/20168/cdc_20168_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 354.67 KB]
• Collection(s):
  Preventing Chronic Disease
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:05f6bbfa77160e9511126de704bebada2c270368632241f0d9b74b988a625d861095f80e32d155c4048dd06d894485c6ce18357c20a5c3ee563eb31814b9d84a