Studies show that kids who don’t have good literacy skills by the third grade are four times more likely to drop out before finishing high school, making it unlikely they will find productive jobs as adults. The Literacy Cooperative’s Supporting Partnerships to Assure Ready Kids (SPARK) program helps prepare kids for kindergarten and ultimately get them off to a good start.

“The SPARK program started in Canton six or seven years ago and they’ve seen measureable improvement,” says Literacy Cooperative executive director Bob Paponetti. “By third grade, the SPARK children are doing better than standardized testing.”

The SPARK program began last year with four-year-olds getting ready to enter kindergarten in seven schools in three school districts: Cleveland, Cleveland Heights and Maple Heights. The program pairs a parent partner who goes to the child’s home once a month and guides the child and parent through a proven curriculum and teaches parents ways to incorporate learning into daily home activities.

The results have been encouraging, showing a higher percentage of kindergarten-readiness in the participants. “Children who participated in SPARK showed a significant marked improvement over kids in the same classroom,” says Paponetti. “We’re very pleased with the first year and we will continue to track them.”

The program targets kids early on so that they have a better chance of finishing school, going to college and being prepared to compete for good jobs.

“There is a clear connection between how they do early on and how they do later in life,” explains Paponetti. “The jobs that continue to be created require more than a high school diploma. There are 400,000 adults in Cuyahoga County who don’t have those requirements, so it’s important to get kids off to a good start. The investment in early childhood really pays off."

Source: Bob Paponetti
Writer: Karin Connelly