The Early Childhood Resources page includes resources for families and educators of children ages birth to five. Some topics of interest include the growth and development of infants, toddlers, and preschoolers; understanding and working with children with disabilities; social/emotional growth; parenting skills; school readiness; multiculturalism and diversity; and brain development.
Resources for Families
Kentucky Academic Standards
See Kentucky Early Childhood Standards - Every child can have a strong start in the Commonwealth when families, communities, and schools work together.
Standards Family Guides & Resources
The Governor’s Office of Early Childhood (GOEC) provides Family Guides that act as a companion to the Kentucky Early Childhood Standards, which are housed in the GOEC. The Family Guides align directly with the Standards and the best practices of Kentucky Educational Television’s Let’s Learn Kentucky.
Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library of Kentucky mails free, high-quality, age-appropriate books monthly to children from birth until age 5.
Kentucky All STARS is Kentucky’s expanded five-star quality rating and improvement system for early care and education programs.
Kentucky Early Intervention System is a statewide early intervention system that provides services to children with developmental disabilities from birth to age 3 and their families.
Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services (CHFS) provides services for Kentucky families.
Health Access Nurturing Development Services (HANDS) is a voluntary intensive home visitation program for first-time parents that provides services from the prenatal period to the child's third birthday.
Kentucky Parent Resource Center
The mission of KY-SPIN, Inc. is to link families and individuals with disabilities to resources that will enable them to live productive, fulfilling lives.
Kids Now Early Childhood Resources for Families
As a child’s first and most important teacher, you play a major role in giving your child the greatest opportunity to succeed. KIDS NOW is committed to providing families with the information and tools they need to help their children be their best.
Resources for Schools and Districts
Building a Strong Foundation for School Success includes the following: Kentucky Early Childhood Standards , which describes what children should know and be able to do; the Kentucky Early Childhood Continuous Assessment Guide, which outlines how to appropriately measure a child's progress on the Early Childhood Standards; the Kentucky Early Childhood Quality Self-Study a tool to provide direction for program improvement; and Field Guides which are a practical supplement to the Early Childhood Standards.
The Early Childhood Collective is made up of multiple projects, all aimed at providing evidence-based information and resources to strengthen families and help professionals enhance inclusive early care and education.
KET’S Early Childhood Education Professional Development Workshops: KET is pleased to offer a selection of free, for-credit workshops for early care and education professionals. The workshops aim to increase early childhood educator effectiveness and family engagement to help improve children’s school readiness in science, math, social studies, literacy, health, and the arts. Each workshop is available to early childhood educators statewide with a focus on childcare centers serving low-income families.
National Center for Families Learning (NCFL) works to eradicate poverty through educational solutions for families and resources for educators.
Please email the
School Readiness branch if you have any questions.