In 2011 the Center for Educational Policy Analysis released a study on the widening of the achievement gap, noting, “The achievement gap between children from high- and low-income families is roughly 30 to 40 percent larger among children born in 2001 than among those born twenty-five years earlier.”

This achievement gap isn’t something suddenly occurring at the middle or high school levels but before children even reach kindergarten. In fact, the Economic Policy Institute has found that the average cognitive score of disadvantaged kindergarten children score 60% lower than their peers in the highest socioeconomic status group.

So while poor elementary schooling may play a part in the widening of the achievement gap, it’s what is happening between the ages of 0-5 that is setting children up to flourish or struggle.

According to census data, there are 29, 792 children under five years of age in Guilford County, but only 9,809 (32%) are enrolled in a licensed childcare facility. This means that the vast majority of the county’s youngest children are at home with their parents.

It is our desire that all of these families are equipped with the knowledge, resources and skills to allow for maximum development academically, socially and emotionally.