Education

Encouraging school readiness and helping youth achieve their potential

The Challenges:

• Last year, 30 percent of central Maryland kindergartners were not fully ready for school.
• Affordable quality child care is out of reach for many in the region, with child care ranking as one of the top three household expenses in every jurisdiction in Maryland.
• More than 5,200 high school students in central Maryland dropped out of school last year.
• Eight percent of Maryland teens are not attending school and are not working.
• Nearly half of eighth grade students in central Maryland only tested at a basic level in math skills.
  *Sources: Maryland State Department of Education, Maryland Child Care Resource Network, Kids Count 2007

The Work in 2007:

• One hundred child care providers received credentials – 150 percent more than projected - increasing the number of children ready for kindergarten.
• More than 52,000 parents received information about how critical it is for their children to be ready for school.
• Referrals to services for children with developmental delays increased by 19 percent.
• More than 1,000 youth in central Maryland gained basic or occupational skills, 70 percent more than projected by United Way.
• The achievement gap between students in United Way programs and average Maryland students was reduced for more than 38 percent of students.

The Vision for central Maryland:

With your help, every child in central Maryland will enter kindergarten fully ready to learn. And as those children grow up, they will have an opportunity to develop to their full potential - becoming young adults who are economically self-sufficient.