Training and Program Configuration

The Children’s Reading Foundation offers facilitator training each year, typically in Kennewick, Washington. Onsite training options may also be available for large groups. Once trained, facilitators will return to your school district or organization with everything you need to implement the READY! for Kindergarten program and to train additional facilitators. Licensees also have access to printed materials, training videos and monthly webinars.

Individuals with various backgrounds and experiences are employed by the sponsoring organization to facilitate the majority of READY! for Kindergarten workshops. All READY! facilitators, whether professional teachers or not, participate in training before instructing parent and caregiver workshops.

The READY! for Kindergarten program is supported at the local and national levels with staff, quality materials and resources, and research supporting the program's effectiveness.

The sponsoring organization provides funding, promotion, trained facilitators, meeting space, registration and child care. Workshops are generally provided at no charge to parents and caregivers with children in the ages ranges offered.

Administration and staffing of the READY! program is flexible based on the size of the school district, organization or community you will serve. Various factors, unique to each program sponsor, determine the best way to staff READY! for Kindergarten in your community. At a minimum, a program director will be required to manage the logistics of such things as scheduling parent workshops, ordering and inventory control of materials, local promotion, registering parents, preparing classroom or conference spaces, and facilitating the workshops on behalf of the school district or other sponsoring organization.

For larger programs, the model of having a program director to manage the program and oversee a small team of facilitator(s) works well. A larger program may also require an administrative professional to work with the program director.

READY! for Kindergarten has traditionally been sponsored by local school districts that have a vested interest in seeing children start kindergarten prepared. School districts typically have staff in place for the administration of the program and the facilities necessary to host the parent workshops. 

But with many school districts facing budget cuts, many other community organizations sponsor and fund the READY! for Kindergarten program to strengthen and invest in the future of their communities.

There are many options to fund a READY! for Kindergarten program including:

• Chapters of The Children’s Reading Foundation
• School Districts
• Other Community Foundations or Clubs
• Title 1
• State early learning grants
• Basic education allotment
• Levies
• Grassroots funding
• Corporate sponsors