EDUCATION
Education – and particularly early education before age five – is critical to long-term success.
Together with our partners, we have placed critical emphasis on preparing children to succeed in school through United Way's Success by Six™ program and the statewide Delaware Stars for Early Success.
Every $1 invested in early care and education programs can lead to $17 in savings on remedial efforts,
like special education and juvenile justice programs.
Success by Six™
Part of a national United Way initiative, Success by Six works to ensure that children enter school ready to succeed – healthy,
academically ready and socially and emotionally competent. This includes an emphasis on maternal and child health, parent and
caregiver supports and improving the quality of early care and education. Development of language and cognitive skills in the preschool
years, especially when coupled with social and emotional skills, has been documented to produce significant and long-lasting academic benefits.
Delaware Stars
Delaware Stars for Early Success is a quality rating and improvement system. Stars:
• Establishes quality standards for child care and education programs
• Provides technical assistance and financial support to Stars programs as they work on quality improvement
• Offers five levels, with Level 5 being the highest rating
Over the next five years, United Way of Delaware and our partners will work to increase the number of Delaware early care and family care providers enrolled in Stars and help existing Stars programs improve their ratings.
To learn more, see page four of Live United 2015.
