Several initiatives in the last few years have played a major role in developing academic skills of pre-school children. Last year Tenenbaum created the Office of Early Childhood Education at the State Department, which has a staff of six regional coordinators who work in specific areas of the state. They assist teachers, school administrators and parents, as well as build strong links among local child care programs, First Steps local partnerships, Head Start and other agencies that deal with caring for and educating young children. It helps to have all of these people working together under one roof. First Steps, one of Gov. Hodges' key initiatives, uses public and private funds to develop county partnerships that support high-quality early childhood development and education services for children.
Support is provided for families to enable their children to reach first grade ready to succeed.
Greenville County received the first implementation grant from First Steps and used the funds to offer an 80-hour summer program for almost 300 students who were identified by their teachers as being at risk of not being ready for first grade. Greenville's Early Childhood Education Director, Rhonda Corley, said the results from the program were extremely positive. Sixty-seven percent of these students scored ready, which is remarkable since all of them were identified as possibly not being so. The program centered on the 18 objectives tested by CSAB, including a strong focus on language development. Corley said Greenville County has a strong coalition that includes the school district, Head Start, Success by Six, the United Way and local hospitals to support its early childhood initiatives.