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Smart Start of Davie County
Why Smart Start?
At the beginning of school year 2010-2011, 22% of Davie County kindergarteners were academically or socially delayed, and many had characteristics that research has linked to school failure, especially low maternal education and low family income.
What is Smart Start of Davie County?
Smart Start is a local nonprofit organization that provides free programs for all Davie County families with young children from birth to kindergarten. It is not a government office but it does receive state Smart Start funds. The Board of Directors consists of rotating community members, including parents and representatives from schools, child care programs, Head Start, businesses, community college, county offices, and other organizations. Smart Start is staffed by an executive director, finance director, parent educator, administrative and resource specialist, child care quality improvement coordinator, and marketing and event coordinator.
How does Smart Start help young children in Davie County?
Smart Start provides one-on-one parent education and support in families' homes, through the national Parents as Teachers program. It provides a book every month for every child birth to five, through the Dolly Parton Imagination Library, so parents can read to their children. It provides play and learning kits so parents can help their young children learn, grow, and develop. It provides one-on-one information to parents about child care programs in Davie County, and helps low-income working parents pay for child care so they can work.
Smart Start also helps child care programs improve their curriculum, staff education and training, staff turnover, and wages, because high quality child care leads to school success. In May 2010, the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development published the largest child care study to date, showing that child care quality is related to children's achievement all the way through high school. In North Carolina, the stars on a child care license, from 1 to 5, demonstrate how well the program has met a set of program quality indicators.
Why are Smart Start Programs Important?
Parents as Teachers closes the achievement gap for low income or at-risk children, ages birth to five, providing benefits that can be seen from kindergarten through 3rd grade, which predicts high school graduation.
Imagination Library and the Early Childhood Resource Center provide books and activities that encourage parents to talk with, read to, and play with their children, which stimulates and promotes brain development and learning. Children whose parents read to or participate in activities with them on a regular basis are far less likely to enter kindergarten socially or academically delayed.
Child Care Resource & Referral provides facts about child care programs in Davie County, including different types of programs and licenses, inspection reports, ages served, fees, and available spaces.
Strengthening the Foundations of Quality works with child care program directors to increase the quality of child care and education provided to young children, typically 9-10 hours a day, while parents work. Unlike public schools for kindergarten-12th grade, programs for children from birth to five depend on parent fees, which must be affordable for working parents. Parent fees are too low to pay for good teacher salaries and benefits, teacher training, teacher planning time for curriculum planning and preparation, teacher supervision, and materials and equipment needed for daily activities. So Smart Start provides information, training, consultation and technical assistance, and some wage supplements, to help programs achieve 4- and 5- star NC licenses.
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