Results Statement

ALL WETHERSFIELD CHILDREN, BIRTH-8 YEARS, ARE SAFE, HEALTHY, CONNECTED TO THE COMMUNITY AND DEVELOPMENTALLY SUCCESSFUL LEARNERS.

Mission

The Wethersfield Early Readiness Council (WERC) is a coalition of committed individuals whose shared goal is to prepare children for success in school by building awareness of the importance of early care and education.

History

Since 2004, Wethersfield has participated in the William Caspar Graustein Memorial Fund Discovery Grant Initiative, which helps communities promote the importance of quality early childhood care and education, stressing collaboration, community engagement and parent leadership. A diverse group of community members came together to form the Wethersfield Early Readiness Council. Over the years, WERC highlights have included:

 Annual Early Childhood Expos, featuring local licensed preschools and daycare providers

 Kindergarten Readiness efforts including a video, a transition plan, and a summer readiness class

 Training and professional development opportunities for preschool and elementary school staff

 Development and maintenance of an Early Childhood Education Resource Guide

 A Kindergarten Parent Survey, mailed to 250 families to collect data about the early education experiences of their children

 Community Conversations on early childhood education Current Focus

A Leadership Work Group (LWG), comprised of individuals who live and/or work in Wethersfield, has been meeting monthly to lay the groundwork of the 2-year initiative to develop a comprehensive early childhood plan.

Part of this process includes incorporating the results of focus groups and interviews with key community leaders, held from October 2010 through April 2011, to get feedback and suggestions that will be an important component of the plan. In addition, volunteer members conducted a door-to-door survey focusing on hard-to-reach and underrepresented members of the community.

Currently the LWG has three subcommittees aligned directly to our results statement: Health/Safety, Connection To Community, and Developmentally Successfully Learners. They are each gathering data and the “story behind the data” for key indicators such as percentage of women receiving non-adequate prenatal care, percentage of 3rd graders meeting State goal on the Connecticut Mastery Test in Reading, and percentage of children with substantiated allegations of abuse/neglect.

In the fall of 2011, we hope to begin developing draft strategies and then obtain broad-based ommunity feedback on that draft plan via focus groups and survey tools.

Meetings

The LWG and WERC currently have overlapping meetings, generally on the second Monday of the month, from 4:30 to 6:30 at the Wethersfield Public Library on the Silas Deane Highway. The next scheduled meetings are July 11th, August 8th, September 12th, October 17th, November 14th and December 5th. We welcome the participation of parents, healthcare and education professionals, and everyone who shares our concern for the well-being of Wethersfield’s young children.

Contact Us

If you would like to get more involved in our efforts to support young children in Wethersfield, please contact us at [email protected].