With just 34% of river city children entering kindergarten ready to learn, Newport is continuing to work on its new Read Ready Newport effort to give its youngest learners a stronger start.
Last month, the city of Newport announced its partnership with Newport Independent Schools on an initiative called Read Ready Newport, aimed at improving kindergarten readiness. The program is intended for prenatal care through age 5, incorporating childcare, home care, and public preschool, and ensures that every child is ready for kindergarten.
Initially started in Covington, Ludlow, and Dayton have also joined the Read Ready Initiative within the last month.
The schools are working with EducateNKY, which is funding the effort.
EducateNKY Vice President of Early Learning and Family Power Jenny Watson gave a presentation to the Newport Board of Education at its meeting on Aug. 27 to explain the initiatives’ next steps and provide more information about the new program.
Watson explained that the reason they are focusing on early childhood education is that 80% of a child’s brain is developed before they’re three years old, and 90% is developed by the first five years.
“Brain development is shaped by what kids experience, good or bad,” Watson said. “That lays the foundation for future learning and well-being, and this is really a big opportunity.”
Watson said at the board meeting on Wednesday that only 48% of students enter kindergarten ready to learn in Kentucky, and the river cities lag the Kentucky average at 34% of students ready for kindergarten.
“When you think about that, that means that we need an urgent and unifying solution to that data,” Watson said. “So Read Ready is not about kindergarten readiness alone; it is more about building strong children, strong families, vibrant communities, and a better future.”
Watson said the Read Ready initiative will focus on three key components: strong family bonding, learning opportunities for both children and adults, and community partnerships.
Next steps, Watson said, include EducateNKY presenting a grant agreement and a check to the city of Newport on Sept. 15 as a planning grant. It’s not the only grant to come with this work, but it’s to help start the planning process. Watson said the Read Ready Newport team will continue to meet to further develop this plan.
“We want to put a data dashboard in place,” Watson said. “We want to have calendaring and monitoring of events, thinking about collective impact, who’s doing what where, and that’s all kind of coordinated into a data dashboard.”
Some of the initiative’s goals include increasing kindergarten readiness by 5% by August 2026. Watson said they want to engage at least 50 new families in monthly or frequent early learning activities in Newport and train at least 20 parent leaders as ambassadors.
Watson said they also plan to connect and engage with at least five child care providers in Newport and five in-home daycare providers. There are 14 childcare centers in Newport, that’s both facility-based and home-based. Watson said the Read Ready team is visiting those 14 on Sept. 3.
Another goal is to increase the “ASQ3,” a questionnaire used by St. Elizabeth Hospital. Watson said every child should have that questionnaire before they turn 2 as a way to find any red flags in the development of speech and language.
Lastly, Watson said the initiative wants to increase participation in Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library in Newport from its current 38.34% participation to 50%.
“We really do realize that these are our kiddos,” said Newport Commissioner Ken Rechtin, who attended the board meeting on behalf of the city. “They don’t belong to the school, they don’t belong to anybody but all of us, and it does take a village.”
Newport Board of Education Chair Ramona Malone said the district plays catch-up with a lot of its students.
“They don’t come here kindergarten-ready, and this catch-up continues in high school, and so we want to stop that cycle,” Malone said. “We want our kids to come to school, kindergarten-ready, so that we can help them be successful. Help them become the best version of themselves, and it starts here in this program.”
