The City of San Antonio Department of Human Services (DHS) Head Start Program defines school readiness as follows: Children are ready for kindergarten, families are ready to support their child’s learning, and schools are ready to receive children.
This is achieved through an ongoing holistic approach that integrates all aspects of a child and family’s well-being and educational, social, and emotional strengths and needs. DHS recognizes the importance of all Head Start service areas in promoting school readiness and values the unique role parents/guardians and families play in this process. Parent engagement, educational opportunities, ongoing training and technical assistance, community collaboration, and high-quality early childhood education are central to the approach to school readiness.
The Office of Head Start requires all programs to establish school readiness goals, which are defined as the expectations of children’s progress across domains of language and literacy development, cognition and general knowledge, approaches to learning, physical well-being and motor development, and social and emotional development that will improve readiness for kindergarten.
The DHS Head Start Program engaged parents, staff, and community stakeholders to develop our program’s school readiness goals.
Approaches to Learning
- Children will recognize and manage their feelings, emotions, and behaviors.
- Children will demonstrate interest, curiosity, focus, and persistence while exploring and investigating the world around them.
Social and Emotional Development
- Children will develop emotional awareness, self-regulation, and conflict resolution skills.
- Children will build positive relationships with peers and adults, engage in cooperative play and positive interactions, and show care and concern for others.
- Children will develop a sense of connection and inclusion within their school, family, and community.
Language and Literacy
- Children will demonstrate an understanding of spoken language and how sounds, letters, and words relate to one another.
- Children will communicate with others and initiate learning through language.
- Children will demonstrate an understanding of how print, gestures, signs, drawings, and pictures are used.
- Children will demonstrate an understanding of books and stories and the ways they are organized and presented.
Cognition
- Children will show curiosity, engage in hands-on investigations and experiments, ask questions, and make predictions to understand and organize their world.
- Children will demonstrate reasoning, memory, and problem-solving skills.
Perceptual, Motor, and Physical Development
- Children will use their senses to understand, organize, and explore their world.
- Children will demonstrate increased independence in motor skills, self-care, and safety.
