All Stamford Youth Will Enter Kindergarten Ready to Learn
The 0-5 Early Childhood Community Action Network (CAN) focuses on engaging parents in their children’s learning, beginning at birth. The goal is that children are developmentally ready to learn. Parents play a key role in this because they are their children’s first and best teachers. Our efforts focus on making parents aware of key developmental milestones, providing child care professionals with ongoing professional development, and making linkages to service providers to keep children on track.
Measuring Success
75
% of incoming kindergarten students had a preschool experience (source 2022 SPS Kindergarten Enrollment)
638
children whose parents have the Sparkler app; of these 207 have at least one completed Ages and Stages Questionnaire (source Sparkler Dashboard 2019-2022)
62
% of incoming kindergarteners assessed using the Preschool Early Literacy Indicator to help teachers better understand their new students (source 2020 PELI data)
CAN Initiatives:
Developmental Screenings/Assessments: Ages & Stages and the Sparkler App
The Ages and Stages Questionnaire is a widely used developmental tool used by parents and early childhood providers to help identify how a child is doing developmentally. Our goal is to expand the use of these screenings and connect families to support services if needed. Thanks to a grant from the State Department of Education’s Office of Early Childhood, SC2C has promoted the use of the Sparkler App, an educational tool for parents with children ages 0-5. The app uses the Ages and Stages Questionnaire screening to identify children’s developmental progress, provides tips and activities for parents to do with their child, and includes both chat-based consulting and connections to other providers. SC2C is coordinating the effort to get this tool to parents and partners with Children’s Learning Centers, Family Centers, St. Joseph’s Parenting Center, All Our Kin, Abilis, and Inspirica to provide this resource to parents.
PreK to K Transition
The transition from early childhood to kindergarten is a big step for children and families. The 0-5 CAN has worked to make connections between early childhood, preschool and kindergarten to support this transition. The Kindergarten Readiness brochure shares a common understanding of what it means to be ready for kindergarten for both families and providers. The Prekindergarten Transition Summary (PKTS) is completed by preschool teachers across Stamford on incoming kindergarten children. This summary includes social and developmental information on children and is shared with kindergarten teachers. It is a tool that assists teachers with classroom placements and provides the opportunity for teachers to have baseline knowledge about their incoming class. The 0-5 CAN plays an instrumental role in coordinating the city-wide completion of the PKTS form, working with publicly funded and private preschool programs. Each year SC2C partners with SPS to host Kindergarten Insight Day to share and discuss the data with kindergarten teachers and preschool staff.
Professional Development
The 0-5 CAN coordinates annual professional development opportunities for preschool and early education staff across the city. These workshops complement professional development opportunities offered at individual child care and preschool sites and focus on best practices and trends in early childhood education. They also provide an opportunity for networking and shared learning which is critical for early childhood teachers.
Family Engagement and Partnerships
The 0-5 CAN coordinates opportunities to engage with the community, parents with young children, and parent support programs. This includes the Stamford Early Childhood Fair in collaboration with the City of Stamford, educational opportunities for parents, and the Greater Stamford Parenting Partnership (GSPP). The GSPP is a collective of support services for families living in the Stamford area including home visiting, parenting classes and developmental screening. Our mission as a collective is to increase parental support through home visiting and parenting classes in order to have our parents be the best they can for their children.
Learn More About Home Visiting Program
0-5 Early Childhood CAN Leadership/Contributors
Co-Chairs:
- Kendra Brown, Stamford Public Schools
- Penny Lehman, CLC
Members/Affiliates:
- Alissa Lyn, Early Childhood Consultation Partnership (ECCP)
- Amanda Heath, Child Development Infoline
- Amee Borys, Children’s Learning Centers of Fairfield County
- Amoulifie Souffrant, All Our Kin
- Amy Granelli, Help for Kids
- Andrea Payo, Family Centers Inc.
- Anna Witkowski, Children’s Learning Center of Fairfield County
- Antonia Better-Wirz, All Our Kin
- Brittany Dube, Department of Health, Stamford
- Brittney Porter, Waterside School
- Brooke Nilsen, First United Methodist Nursery School
- Christina Miller, Child First (Child Guidance)
- Christopher Lawrence, Bright Horizons Early Education & Preschool (Long Ridge Road)
- Cora Megan, UCONN-Stamford (Early Childhood Program)
- Cynthia Manifold-Dougherty, Stamford Public Schools
- Danielle Celaj, Building Blocks Learning
- Donna Arcuri, City of Stamford
- Eliza Arellano, Ferguson Library
- Emily Goldschmid, Children’s Learning Centers of Fairfield County
- Haley Argueta, Stamford Public Education Foundation
- Ivette Pino-Vanegas, Child Guidance of Southern CT
- Jennifer Febles, Kids in Crisis
- Joanna Meyer, PEER (Partnership for Early Education Research)
- Karen Feder, Abilis Inc.
- Ligia Hendrie, All Our Kin
- Lisa Cody, Stamford Public Schools
- Lisa Combs, Art, Nature and Me Preschool – Stamford Museum & Nature Center
- Liz Gebert, Stamford JCC Sara Walker Nursery School
- Margot Laedlein, Medical Home Initiative – Stamford Health
- Marsha Guthrie, Children’s Learning Centers of Fairfield County
- Michelle Grullon, Community Health Center
- Monselue Perez, Department of Health, Stamford
- Natalie Tocci, Family Centers Inc.
- Phyllis DeFrancia, Children’s Learning Centers of Fairfield County
- Sarah McMackin, Children’s Learning Centers of Fairfield County
- Sofia Byrnes, Cottontails Childcare & Learning Center
- Tania Recinos, Family Centers Inc.
- Yenny Toone, Family Centers Inc.
Member lists are updated annually.
Action Plans
To effectively measure and identify effective practices while aligning resources, we have designed and developed a detailed Action Plan process. The process and the related template were created in close partnership with Stamford Public Schools and the Superintendent’s team. This process is consistently followed by all CANs. Each CAN is at a different stage of action plan completion, depending on the complexity of its objectives and the available data.
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