Bloomington/Richfield Early Reading First: Get Ready Centers of Excellence (Year 1 Report)

The purpose of this report is to summarize results for Year 1 of the Early Reading First Get Ready Centers of Excellence project in the Bloomington/ Richfield Minnesota Public Schools. Funded by the federal Department of Education through an Early Reading First Get Ready Centers of Excellence grant, the project seeks to improve the language and early reading skills of at risk and limited English pre-school children so that they will be competitive academically when they enter kindergarten and can maintain their achievement through 2nd grade. The Bloomington/Richfield Get Ready program evolved because of a nation wide concern with the achievement gap, beginning in Kindergarten, between children at risk, i.e., students of color, English language learners, students in poverty and those children without those risk factors. The questions raised by the project are these: “What kind of academic, social and emotional intervention is needed for children at risk to make them ready for kindergarten? To keep them on track throughout their schooling? What classroom circumstances, teacher training, amount of time and staffing ratios are optimal? When should interventions begin?