Overall, children in the area are less likely to participate in pre-school programs. 48% of all children 2-5 do not participate in a program compared to 25% in Milwaukee County .

A more critical measure is participation by children in quality programs.  In 2003, Milwaukee County began a program to assess and provide technical support to child care programs.  The intention has been to include all programs in this assessment.  Local child care centers have generally faired well early in this effort. Even so, the number of centers rated “adequate” lags behind the larger community. 78 % of family and certified child care centers in the Making Connections area that were assessed were found “adequate” compared to 88% county wide.  Expanding this quality assessment is a priority for the Children Ready to Succeed in School strategy.

Another critical concern of this strategy is measures of school readiness.  At this point, there is no program in Kindergarten to assess an individual child’s readiness for school – another issue the strategy team will address.