About Us
The mission of the Office of School Readiness is to prepare children for school success through high-quality early education. The office supports preschool programs throughout North Carolina, in public schools and licensed child care centers, including:
- Even Start Family Literacy
- Head Start State Collaboration Office
- More at Four Pre-Kindergarten Program
- Preschool Exceptional Children
- Title I Preschool
The Office of School Readiness promotes high-quality early childhood educational opportunities that children need in order to be ready for school success. The definition of “school readiness” in North Carolina is:
- The condition of children when they enter school, based on the five domains of development:
- Health and physical development
- Social and emotional development
- Approaches to learning
- Language development and communication
- Cognition and general knowledge
- The capacity of schools to serve all children effectively.
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High-quality preschool programs promote development of the whole child across all five of these domains of development and learning that are fundamental to school readiness. High-quality programs actively engage children in hands-on learning and meet the needs of each individual child. These programs also promote the active involvement of families in their children's education.
The Office of School Readiness provides funding, policy development and planning, standards, collaboration, professional development, teacher licensure (nonpublic schools) technical assistance, monitoring and evaluation to support public schools and child care centers in providing high-quality pre-kindergarten.
The Office of School Readiness works to strengthen collaboration among early childhood agencies and programs at the state and local levels, including the public schools, child care, Smart Start, the Division of Child Development, NC Early Intervention Services, Head Start, and other programs toward our common goal of school success for all children. The OSR builds on the work of all those who have invested themselves in ensuring success for North Carolina’s children. In continuing North Carolina’s long and rich history of early childhood initiatives, the Office of School Readiness strives to strengthen the efforts of preschool programs to meet the needs of North Carolina’s preschool children and ensure their later success in school and life.
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