More than 50 percent of 4-year-olds across the nation remain un-enrolled in public preschools, and children who are unable to attend preschool start Kindergarten behind*. In 2017, the Bay Area Discovery Museum (BADM) developed the Reimagining School Readiness Toolkit to empower librarians to share helpful resources, tips, and activities with their communities, and help close that gap. Thanks to support from the California State Libraries, the Toolkit is currently being used by six pilot libraries across the state.

Now, thanks to an almost $250,000 grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services, BADM’s Toolkit will be implemented in libraries across the country, so that more children and families can benefit from high-quality learning experiences that prepare children for success.

The Toolkit includes flyers, bookmarks, posters, and flashcards in six languages that feature easy, everyday activities and conversation starters for families to share together. Librarians across California have already begun using the Toolkit, and sharing its research-backed tips and activities with children ages 0-8 and their families. The grant allows BADM and its partners to extend the Toolkit’s reach by training librarians in 18 states on how to use the Toolkit to benefit their communities, reaching more than 50,000 children and families in total.

At BADM, all of our on-site and off-site programs are backed by the latest findings from our in-house research department, so that we can continue to provide families across the Bay Area with access to fun, creative programs that prepare children for success. With the help of this grant, we are excited to expand the reach of our research and impact beyond the Bay Area on a national level so that families across the country can access the impactful, early learning experiences that every child deserves.

For more information about the national expansion of the Toolkit, read our full media announcement.

*U.S. Department of Education, 2015