Text-based program aims to help families boost learning.
Virtual learning has upended many families over the past year. To help support parents during this time, Alamance Achieves is offering families and learners support through a free research-based text messaging program—Ready4K.
Ready4K is for families with kids ages 0 to 10. It provides information on ways to help children learn and grow, as well as fun facts and links to community resources for even more support.
How it helps
The text program has been shown to offer significant gains for children in literacy and early math building skills. A study conducted by Stanford University found that Ready4K participants gained two to three months of literacy skills over the course of one school year, while another study conducted by the Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital indicated that 84% of the families enrolled learned new math tips and appreciated the reminders to engage with their children on early math skills on a regular basis.
Additionally, Ready4K has a trauma-informed curriculum to help parents and caregivers strengthen protective factors such as parental resilience, social connections and knowledge of parenting and child development to offset the negative effects of any traumatic incidents a child may have experienced. Nearly half of U.S. children have experienced at least one adverse event during childhood, which, if not addressed, can have a lifelong impact. These types of traumatic experiences range from divorce or homelessness to a caregiver’s addiction to being the victim of violence. Ready4K is a great resource to support parents and caregivers on how to buffer the effects of any trauma the children they care for may have encountered.
The texts are available in English and Spanish. Families who are interested
in receiving the Ready4K messages can fill out the form on the
Alamance Achieves website—www.alamanceachieves.org/ready4k.
