Welcome to Thrive in 5
Boston's School Readiness Roadmap

Thrive in 5 is a comprehensive school readiness roadmap for Boston driven by the scientific, economic and civic imperative to focus on young children and their families. The Roadmap, the result of a year-long public and private collaboration that engaged over 400 individuals, lays out powerful goals and well-researched strategies to ensure that children enter school ready to learn.

How it works
The Thrive in 5 roadmap is unique in that it addresses all dimensions of children's development and learning through effective partnerships between public and private sector institutions. It is a ten-year movement that for the first time aligns families, educators, health and human service providers, the private sector, and City departments working in collaboration with State agencies to ensure that all children will be ready for sustained school success. Thrive in 5 is based on the following equation, understanding that the collective effort of everyone involved in children's lives will support their success:

Boston's School Readiness Equation

Why now?
Effective early childhood supports offer substantial returns on investment, as great as $14 to $17 for every $1 invested. In the first few years of life, children's brains develop at a faster pace than during any other time. That growth lays the foundation for all future development and learning. However, for many children the playing field upon school entry is far from level. The workplace today's children will enter upon high school or college graduation will demand capabilities that are far more difficult to master without the critical building blocks laid in early childhood. Investing in children early is far more effective and efficient than treating problems at a later age. When children thrive through their first five years, they are poised to be strong lifelong learners, earners and engaged citizens.

How will we succeed?
Thrive in 5 draws on Boston's considerable strengths to advance clear strategies that surround children and families with school readiness supports, raise the quality of early education and care, screen earlier for threats to healthy development, conduct public engagement campaigns about the importance of the early years, and more.

Progress toward universal school readiness will be reported regularly. Among the indicators to be tracked, Thrive in 5 seeks to increase the percentage of:

• Parents who report accessing information and resources they need to support their child's development;
• Nationally accredited early education and care programs in Boston;
• New parents who are offered a newborn visit to connect to vital services;
• Children ages birth to five screened for developmental delays, behavior issues and environmental risk factors;
• Parents who are civically engaged and registered to vote; and
• Circulation rate of picture books in the Boston Public Library system.

Check back often for updates about Thrive in 5.