Success By Six


What if every child in the Roanoke Valley entered school ready to learn? What if there was a way for you to help make sure that happened?

There is. UWRV leads a comprehensive program focused on ensuring that all children have access to high quality child care programs to teach skills for success in school. The United Way Success By 6™ program provides support services to improve the quality of care from home- and center-based providers, where the majority of children spend their growing years.

The 2004 Virginia School Readiness Indicators report showed that 20% of children entering kindergarten from the Roanoke Valley MSA as measured by PALS-K scores in 2002-2003 were seriously under-prepared. Among children who enter school lagging behind their peers, as many as 80% fail the third grade reading test, display disruptive behavior in school, drop out of school, or get involved in criminal activity or teen pregnancy. The cost-benefit ratio of early intervention (as released from findings of the Perry Preschool study) is $17 for $1 invested, making this strategy a wise investment of community dollars.

Since its inception in 2001, SB6 has made notable strides in increasing knowledge and skills among child care workers by providing educational and training opportunities (workshops and educational scholarships); and improving the quality of care received by children through one-on-one coaching and support for centers and family day cares towards the pursuit for national accreditation. Over 70 hours of training have been provided to an average of 65 child care workers every month who serve approximately 615 children ages 5 and below. Four childcare providers obtained an associate’s degree through TEACH. There are currently 13 TEACH participants from five child care providers in the area currently pursuing their early childhood education degrees at Virginia Western Community College.

In addition, over 550 hours of technical assistance were provided by consultants and over $20,000 in enhancement grants were awarded to help accreditation candidates in the various stages of the application. Nine family-based and 5 center-based providers are now actively working towards national accreditation from either the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) or the National Association for Family Child Care (NAFCC).

In June 2005, Brenda Griffin of Griffin Preschool and Daycare became the first SB6-sponsored childcare provider to gain NAFCC accreditation in Southwest Virginia, becoming one of only 16 accredited home-based providers in the state.  

Success By 6 continues to offer monthly workshops for childcare providers on a variety of topics. Workshops are held every third Tuesday of the month from 6:30 – 8:00pm at ROund Hill Montessori School in Roanoke.

For more information on Success By 6, call (540)777-4211. To get ideas on how to turn everyday moments into learning moments for young children in your care, visit the Born Learning website at www.bornlearning.org.

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