Oakland Starting Smart and Strong
  • About
    • Our Purpose
    • Our Team >
      • Staff & Consultants
      • Supporters
      • Lead Planning Team
      • Task Force
      • Featured Leaders
    • Contact Us
  • Our Work
    • Racial Justice >
      • Promising Practices Portfolio
      • ROCK
    • Community Leadership >
      • Early Learning Symposium
    • Systems Change >
      • Developmental Screening
      • Results & Impact
    • Data, Policy & Advocacy >
      • Policy & Advocacy
      • Family Child Care Policy Program
      • Early Development Instrument
    • Collective Impact >
      • Strategic Plan
      • Year in Review
  • RESOURCES
    • Reports
    • Tools (coming soon)
  • EVENTS
  • News
    • Newsletter
  • Get Involved

THE CHALLENGE

Picture
Right now, only 43% of Oakland kindergartners enter school ready to learn. Children of color and from low-income backgrounds face the greatest barriers. According to the 2015 school readiness report done for Oakland Unified School District, less than half of students of color enter school with the early learning literacy skills associated with future reading success, compared to 82% of white students. Preschool literacy skills predict both 3rd grade reading skills and high school graduation rates.

For the future of our city, we need to do better – and working together, we can.
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Oakland Starting Smart and Strong is working to ensure that every child has access to early childhood education, and every adult in a child’s life has the tools they need to support that child’s development every day.

Many of the photos on this site appear courtesy of Hasain Rasheed Photography
  • About
    • Our Purpose
    • Our Team >
      • Staff & Consultants
      • Supporters
      • Lead Planning Team
      • Task Force
      • Featured Leaders
    • Contact Us
  • Our Work
    • Racial Justice >
      • Promising Practices Portfolio
      • ROCK
    • Community Leadership >
      • Early Learning Symposium
    • Systems Change >
      • Developmental Screening
      • Results & Impact
    • Data, Policy & Advocacy >
      • Policy & Advocacy
      • Family Child Care Policy Program
      • Early Development Instrument
    • Collective Impact >
      • Strategic Plan
      • Year in Review
  • RESOURCES
    • Reports
    • Tools (coming soon)
  • EVENTS
  • News
    • Newsletter
  • Get Involved