When our smallest students
shine, Cleveland thrives.
Cleveland Kindergarten Readiness Snapshot
PRE4CLE is committed to evaluating our community’s progress toward Cleveland’s preschool goals using both child-level and system-level indicators. The annual Cleveland Kindergarten Readiness Snapshot is an online tool that includes these indicators along with important context about the preschool landscape.
“The expected outcome is that students enter kindergarten ready, nothing less.”
–Eric Gordon, Founding Co-Chair, PRE4CLE Steering Committee
What Is Kindergarten Readiness?
When PRE4CLE began in 2014, only 16% of children entering kindergarten in CMSD we prepared for school. PRE4CLE and our key partners are working to increase the number of children who are enrolled in high-quality preschool, leading to increased school readiness, as measured by Ohio’s Kindergarten Readiness Assessment (KRA).
Children who are
kindergarten ready
demonstrate:
Early literacy and math skills
Positive interactions with teachers and peers
The ability to succeed in a classroom environment
Enthusiasm for learning
Kindergarten Readiness in Cleveland
The graphs below show that high-quality preschool attendance greatly impacts kindergarten readiness. Over time, as more Cleveland kids attended high-quality preschool, more children were ready for school when they entered kindergarten.
Many children who attend kindergarten in CMSD attended a preschool program that was part of Cuyahoga County’s Universal Pre-Kindergarten program (UPK). All UPK programs are high-quality, meet additional high-quality standards, and receive supports that make them the gold standard for preschool in our community. Children who attend UPK programs consistently show high levels of kindergarten readiness. In the 2021 sample of Cleveland kindergarteners who attended a UPK program for preschool, 61% scored in the approaching and demonstrating bands of the KRA and 38% were on track in language and literacy.
Kindergarteners in Approaching & Demonstrating Bands of the KRA
Kindergarteners On-Track in Language & Literacy
High-Quality Preschool
Cleveland’s Kindergarten Readiness Assessment results demonstrate that kids who are enrolled in high-quality preschool are better prepared for kindergarten.
That’s why PRE4CLE and our key partners are so focused on increasing the number of high-quality preschool seats and ensuring that all available high-quality preschool seats are enrolled.
Our partners at Starting Point work closely with preschool providers throughout Cleveland to help them improve their quality. Preschool providers, including those in CMSD, private preschools, Head Start centers, child care centers, and family child care homes have joined our commitment to high-quality and dedicated their time and resources to earn high-quality ratings.
What Is High-Quality Preschool?
When we talk about high-quality preschool, we mean preschools that have earned a 3-, 4-, or 5-star rating in Ohio’s Step Up To Quality rating system. High-quality programs offer:
Environments that are fun, welcoming, safe and caring
Staff and teachers who are well-trained and professional
Research-based curriculum with lesson plans for each day’s activities
Educational activities to prepare your child for kindergarten
Creative and imaginative play to inspire a lifelong love of learning
Feedback about your child’s learning and progress
State of Preschool in Cleveland
Over the past several years, the ongoing COVID-19 crisis has pushed the fragile early childhood education system to the limit. While much of the world has returned to “normal,” early childhood providers are still struggling, and the system has not yet recovered to pre-pandemic levels of operation. Enrollment in high-quality preschool has been set back significantly and is 10 percent lower than it was before the shutdown in March of 2020.
Enrollment in High-Quality Preschool in Cleveland
Enrollment in High-Quality Preschool in Cleveland by Neighborhood
Since PRE4CLE’s inception, we have been working with our partners to ensure that high-quality preschool is available in every Cleveland neighborhood. Over the past ten years, enrollment across the city has been consistently growing. While COVID-19 impacted enrollment everywhere, we begun to see it increase and continue to monitor each neighborhood’s recovery.
Select Year:
Enrollment in High-Quality Preschool in Cleveland by Neighborhood
Enrollment:
Under 10%
10-29%
30-59%
60-99%
100% & Higher
No Preschool Seats
High-Quality Providers
There are currently 245 high-quality rated preschool providers in the city with 61 percent of all center-based and 37 percent of all home-based preschool providers in Cleveland rated high-quality. More than three quarters of children enrolled in preschool are in high-quality programs.
Number of High-Quality Preschool Providers in Cleveland
Thank You
Data for this Snapshot were gathered from several sources, to whom we owe a debt of gratitude for providing their time and expertise. In particular, we thank Starting Point and Case Western Reserve University, through the Jack, Joseph, and Morton Madel School of Applied Social Sciences, which worked with PRE4CLE to analyze data on high-quality preschool sites. We also thank our high-quality providers for willingly sharing their data with Starting Point. These results would not be possible without the support of our lead partners, who have all worked tirelessly to improve Cleveland’s early childhood system. Learn more about our lead partners at the links below.
PRE4CLE is committed to evaluating our community’s progress toward Cleveland’s preschool goals using both child-level and system-level indicators. The annual Cleveland Kindergarten Readiness Snapshot is an online tool that includes these indicators along with important context about the preschool landscape.
“The expected outcome is that students enter kindergarten ready, nothing less.”
–Eric Gordon, Founding Co-Chair, PRE4CLE Steering Committee
What Is Kindergarten Readiness?
When PRE4CLE began in 2014, only 16% of children entering kindergarten in CMSD we prepared for school. PRE4CLE and our key partners are working to increase the number of children who are enrolled in high-quality preschool, leading to increased school readiness, as measured by Ohio’s Kindergarten Readiness Assessment (KRA).
Children who are
kindergarten ready
demonstrate:
Early literacy and math skills
Positive interactions with teachers and peers
The ability to succeed in a classroom environment
Enthusiasm for learning
Kindergarten Readiness in Cleveland
The graphs below show that high-quality preschool attendance greatly impacts kindergarten readiness. Over time, as more Cleveland kids attended high-quality preschool, more children were ready for school when they entered kindergarten.
Many children who attend kindergarten in CMSD attended a preschool program that was part of Cuyahoga County’s Universal Pre-Kindergarten program (UPK). All UPK programs are high-quality, meet additional high-quality standards, and receive supports that make them the gold standard for preschool in our community. Children who attend UPK programs consistently show high levels of kindergarten readiness. In the 2021 sample of Cleveland kindergarteners who attended a UPK program for preschool, 61% scored in the approaching and demonstrating bands of the KRA and 38% were on track in language and literacy.
Kindergarteners in Approaching & Demonstrating Bands of the KRA
Kindergarteners On-Track in Language & Literacy
High-Quality Preschool
Cleveland’s Kindergarten Readiness Assessment results demonstrate that kids who are enrolled in high-quality preschool are better prepared for kindergarten.
That’s why PRE4CLE and our key partners are so focused on increasing the number of high-quality preschool seats and ensuring that all available high-quality preschool seats are enrolled.
Our partners at Starting Point work closely with preschool providers throughout Cleveland to help them improve their quality. Preschool providers, including those in CMSD, private preschools, Head Start centers, child care centers, and family child care homes have joined our commitment to high-quality and dedicated their time and resources to earn high-quality ratings.
What Is High-Quality Preschool?
When we talk about high-quality preschool, we mean preschools that have earned a 3-, 4-, or 5-star rating in Ohio’s Step Up To Quality rating system. High-quality programs offer:
Environments that are fun, welcoming, safe and caring
Staff and teachers who are well-trained and professional
Research-based curriculum with lesson plans for each day’s activities
Educational activities to prepare your child for kindergarten
Creative and imaginative play to inspire a lifelong love of learning
Feedback about your child’s learning and progress
State of Preschool in Cleveland
Over the past several years, the ongoing COVID-19 crisis has pushed the fragile early childhood education system to the limit. While much of the world has returned to “normal,” early childhood providers are still struggling, and the system has not yet recovered to pre-pandemic levels of operation. Enrollment in high-quality preschool has been set back significantly and is 10 percent lower than it was before the shutdown in March of 2020.
Enrollment in High-Quality Preschool in Cleveland
Enrollment in High-Quality Preschool in Cleveland by Neighborhood
Since PRE4CLE’s inception, we have been working with our partners to ensure that high-quality preschool is available in every Cleveland neighborhood. Over the past ten years, enrollment across the city has been consistently growing. While COVID-19 impacted enrollment everywhere, we begun to see it increase and continue to monitor each neighborhood’s recovery.
Select Year:
Enrollment in High-Quality Preschool in Cleveland by Neighborhood
Enrollment:
Under 10%
10-29%
30-59%
60-99%
100% & Higher
No Preschool Seats
High-Quality Providers
There are currently 245 high-quality rated preschool providers in the city with 61 percent of all center-based and 37 percent of all home-based preschool providers in Cleveland rated high-quality. More than three quarters of children enrolled in preschool are in high-quality programs.
Number of High-Quality Preschool Providers in Cleveland
Thank You
Data for this Snapshot were gathered from several sources, to whom we owe a debt of gratitude for providing their time and expertise. In particular, we thank Starting Point and Case Western Reserve University, through the Jack, Joseph, and Morton Madel School of Applied Social Sciences, which worked with PRE4CLE to analyze data on high-quality preschool sites. We also thank our high-quality providers for willingly sharing their data with Starting Point. These results would not be possible without the support of our lead partners, who have all worked tirelessly to improve Cleveland’s early childhood system. Learn more about our lead partners at the links below.
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