Only about half of the kindergarteners in Orange County, California, are developmentally ready for kindergarten, while about 80% have the emotional maturity and social competence necessary for school, according to the Early Development Index (EDI), an assessment of social-emotional development, cognitive development, language and communication skills and physical health. The Early Childhood Friendly City initiative...

The Santa Ana Early Learning Initiative (SAELI), a collaborative supporting families with children ages 9 and under in Santa Ana, California, aims to boost reading and math outcomes for students in kindergarten through third grade, but instead of using approaches traditionally employed by schools and districts to boost test scores, such as tutoring or data analytics, its model focuses on...