During this time, teachers also visited each family’s home to learn more about their students’ families, set shared goals, and talk about school expectations and ways for families to support learning at home.

Piloted in 2008, the program saw amazing results in its first year: (summary of initial data)

• Teachers said they could start teaching on Day 1 because children already knew expectations, routines and procedures.
• 99% of parents reported that they felt comfortable talking to their child’s teacher; 98% reported that their child liked school.
• Principals reported that the incidents of children crying or refusing to comply on the first day of school was markedly reduced and, in most cases, eliminated.

Last year, when Ready by Five, Thrive by Five Washington's East Yakima partner and grantee, launched the Kindergarten Transition Program 80 percent of kindergarten students were not ready for school when it began, well above the national average of 60 percent, the newspaper reported.

"Adding two weeks of half days of school prior to the first day of school allows students to get comfortable and gain the confidence necessary to begin academic instruction on that first day of the school year." – East Yakima Kindergarten Transition Program: Results from the Summer 2008 Pilot Program.

The Kindergarten Transition Program is one of the many efforts happening in East Yakima, a Thrive by Five Washington Demonstration Community, to help children ages birth to 5 get ready to succeed in school and thrive in life. And many East Yakima students could use an early boost, according to a 2008 Mathematica Policy Research study.

"Children’s performance on standardized measures of kindergarten readiness was generally below national norms but was consistent with findings from studies of children from low-income families." – A Profile of Kindergarten Readiness in East Yakima: Fall 2007.

Local families, though, also have good early learning building blocks in place.

• Parents reported that East Yakima kindergarteners watched less TV than reported in national studies.
• East Yakima parents reported eating dinner together as a family more than five days a week.