From the desks of Allison Comport, Angel Walters, Megan Smith, and Nathalia Bustamonte.

Across the country, August and September mark the return to school, an important milestone in a child’s developmental journey that offers a chance to celebrate growth, learning, and readiness for new experiences. School readiness encompasses social-emotional development, communication, self-regulation, problem-solving, and early academic foundations. As children meet new teachers and friends and take on new challenges, they build the confidence, independence, and resilience that support lifelong learning.

According to the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC), school readiness is not simply about reciting letters, numbers, or colors. NAEYC’s Developmentally Appropriate Practice (DAP) framework emphasizes that readiness reflects the whole child: social-emotional competence, physical well-being, language and communication, cognitive development, and approaches to learning such as curiosity, persistence, and self-confidence.

A child’s school readiness begins at birth. It is shaped by nurturing relationships, meaningful play, engaging learning experiences, and supportive family and community environments that build on each child’s unique strengths. When families celebrate first- and last-day-of-school milestones, they honor not just academic achievement but also growth in independence, resilience, creativity, and social skills.

First-day photos capture anticipation and possibility; last-day photos reveal how much has changed in knowledge, friendships, and skills. Together they tell a story of progress and transformation. Because the earliest years of life are the most important period of brain development, school readiness is not a kindergarten or school system issue; it is an early childhood systems opportunity that begins at birth and requires coordinated investment across health, family, early care and education, and community services.

For Public Consulting Group’s Child Care and Early Learning team, this work is personal as well as professional. Below are three examples spanning varying geographic areas.

California

The Los Angeles Public Library’s Get Ready for Kindergarten initiative serves children ages 0–5 and their caregivers through in-person and virtual sessions featuring interactive storytelling, music, guided play, and skill-building activities. Its “1000 Books Before Kindergarten Challenge” invites families to track reading milestones through an online portal or the companion Beanstalk app, earning badges along the way and a certificate upon reaching the thousand-book goal.

The program builds language and literacy, numeracy, socio-emotional, and gross motor skills, while giving caregivers practical tips and activities to incorporate into daily routines at home.

“As a young child, my favorite places in the world were libraries and bookstores. I especially enjoyed the summer reading program at my local branch, where you would receive a packet to track the number of books you read and receive rewards for reaching goals. I passed this love of literacy to my children by introducing them to the same places. I can still recall accompanying my youngest to the school library in kindergarten to see what new adventures were waiting on the shelves. She is a senior this year, and she still loves meandering down the aisle to find the perfect book. I will forever be thankful for the library system that created space for me to build school readiness skills for my children. I think the impact will last a lifetime.” Angel Walters, PCG Senior Consultant

Kansas 

Kansas has spent recent years advancing a unified approach to school readiness, built on the belief that readiness is a shared responsibility among families, communities, early childhood providers, and school systems rather than the child alone. The state views readiness as a systems-level outcome shaped by early learning experiences, supportive relationships, health and well-being, and coordinated services.

Kansas supports this through a birth-to-kindergarten continuum that includes the Kansas Early Learning Standards, high-quality preschool, home visiting programs, developmental screening, and family engagement. Its signature Kindergarten Readiness Snapshot uses the Ages & Stages Questionnaires (ASQ-3 and ASQ: SE-2) to help teachers understand each child’s strengths and needs, not to determine kindergarten eligibility.

The state also emphasizes intentional transition planning through Kindergarten Roundup events, where families visit schools and meet teachers before the school year begins, and the Kansas Early Childhood Advisory Council’s Kindergarten Transitions Toolkit, which fosters collaboration among schools, early childhood programs, health organizations, and families.

“As a parent, I felt well prepared for my child’s transition to kindergarten. He attended a high-quality child care program that worked closely with our local school district to support his development and readiness for the next stage of learning. We also participated in Kindergarten Roundup at our neighborhood school, which gave us the opportunity to meet teachers, become familiar with the school environment, and gain a better understanding of what to expect in the fall. These experiences helped both my child and me feel more confident and supported, resulting in a smooth transition to kindergarten.” Megan Smith, PCG Senior Consultant 

New Orleans, LA

New Orleans shows how school readiness can be strengthened through coordinated community infrastructure rather than focusing solely on individual children. OPEN NOLA’s Ready, Set, Go! initiative used neighborhood-level developmental data to understand how young children were doing and to engage communities in identifying needs.

That systems approach continues through the New Orleans Early Education Network (NOEEN), which coordinates publicly funded early childhood programs citywide, including enrollment, quality improvement, educator support, and funding. The city’s City Seats initiative, backed by a voter-approved 20-year investment, provides eligible families free, high-quality early childhood education and wraparound supports while strengthening the workforce, facilities, and enrollment systems.

“For me, this broader view of readiness is personal. When my daughter entered early childhood programs after moving from Colombia, she was learning English while continuing to develop in Spanish and adapting to an entirely new environment. Looking back now, with her at 16, I recognize that readiness was never simply about what she could demonstrate in English or whether she met a checklist of skills. She brought knowledge, curiosity, culture, and language with her. Her experience reinforced for me that school readiness is a shared responsibility: children grow and adapt, but systems must also be prepared to recognize their strengths, support multilingual learners, create belonging, and respond to the needs of the whole child.” Nathalia Bustamonte, PCG Consultant

Boston, Massachusetts 

Boston has built a coordinated birth-to-kindergarten transition system connecting schools, libraries, museums, community organizations, early educators, and families. Through its Countdown to Kindergarten program, the city treats kindergarten entry as a community-wide effort involving the Boston Children’s Museum, family child care educators, and health and family support organizations, embracing the idea of ready schools, ready families, and ready communities.

This work is driven by the Birth to Eight Collaborative, established in 2017, which brings together parents and more than 200 representatives from early childhood programs, schools, nonprofits, public health, philanthropy, government, and medical institutions, all sharing responsibility for seamless transitions into kindergarten and beyond.

“As the parent of a toddler enrolled in a high-quality child care program in Boston, I can see daily how school readiness begins long before kindergarten. My child benefits daily from nurturing relationships with his teachers, opportunities to learn through play, and experiences that support language, social-emotional development, curiosity, and independence. These early experiences are helping build a strong foundation for his future success, but I also understand they are only one part of the readiness equation. 

What I find especially compelling about Boston’s approach is its recognition that school readiness is not solely a responsibility of children or families. Through the Countdown to Kindergarten initiative and the Birth to Eight Collaborative, Boston has created a community-wide commitment to supporting young children by aligning schools, libraries, museums, health providers, family support organizations, and early childhood programs around a shared goal. Rather than asking whether children are ready for school, the initiative asks whether schools, families, and communities are ready for children. This shift acknowledges that children’s success is strengthened when the adults and systems surrounding them work together to create seamless, supportive transitions from early childhood into elementary school.” Allison Comport, PCG Senior Consultant  

The back-to-school season offers families a chance to pause and celebrate. From first-day smiles to end-of-year snapshots, these moments capture a child’s growing confidence, independence, and sense of self. Each milestone is a reminder that learning is not just about what happens in a classroom. It is about the relationships, experiences, and memories that support children as they grow, beginning with their parents, caregivers, and early childhood professionals.

Partner With PCG’s Child Care and Early Learning Team

Public Consulting Group’s Child Care and Early Learning team partners with states, cities, and communities to build coordinated, birth-to-kindergarten systems of school readiness — from policy and program design to data, family engagement, and workforce supports. Whether you’re looking to strengthen a readiness initiative, connect early childhood services across your community, or evaluate program impact, our team brings hands-on experience and a shared commitment to giving every child a strong start.

Ready to talk about school readiness in your community? Connect with PCG’s Child Care and Early Learning team today. Contact Heather Gann, Associate Manager, at [email protected]

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