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Parents and families are safe, healthy, and have increased financial security.

The Head Start Approach to School Readiness means that children are ready for school, families are ready to support their children's learning, and schools are ready for children.

For infants and toddlers, school readiness refers to their developing capacity to self-regulate, demonstrate curiosity, communicate effectively, and develop close, secure relationships. Good health and proper nutrition support this developing capacity. This happens within the context of nurturing, culturally responsive relationships with parents, caregivers, extended family, and community.

Explore this toolkit guides the alignment process and helps strengthen practices to promote children’s development in all ELOF domains.

Learn about the importance of supporting early bonding and attachment child-parent relationships and child-caregiver relationships. Explore strategies useful for Head Start center-based, home-based, and family child care program options.

In this News You Can Use, we discuss ways teachers, home visitors, family child care providers, and families can be more intentional in how they support young children’s early science learning—and school readiness.

The webisodes in this series offer key messages and helpful resources to get staff started with the youngest children and their families. Managers can use Early Essentials to design orientation experiences or staff can participate on their own.

Learn more about the Head Start Early Learning Outcomes Framework (ELOF) anywhere you go, by downloading this useful mobile app designed for teachers.

Health connects to school readiness long before a child enters school. Healthy development continues to support learning throughout childhood and later life. "Health in the earliest years—actually beginning with the future mother's health before she becomes pregnant—lays the groundwork for a lifetime of well-being…"