OPINION: Kindergarten starts before kindergarten – why VPK, families, and early literacy matter now more than ever
Letter to the editor
Each fall, children across our community enter kindergarten classrooms, filled with potential. Some arrive confident and ready to learn, while others arrive already behind, not due to ability, but due to limited access to early learning opportunities that build foundational skills.
Kindergarten readiness does not begin on the first day of school. It begins long before that, through everyday interactions, conversations, and early learning experiences that shape a child’s development.
Florida’s Voluntary Prekindergarten program, commonly known as VPK, is a critical tool in preparing children for school. It builds language, literacy, and social skills during a key stage of brain development. Research shows that children who participate in high-quality early learning programs are more likely to read on grade level, graduate high school, and succeed later in life. In Alachua County, not all children enter kindergarten meeting readiness benchmarks, particularly in early literacy, highlighting the need to strengthen both access and family engagement.
As Board Chair, I have the privilege of working alongside community leaders who are deeply committed to ensuring every child in Alachua County has a strong start. We recognize that while VPK provides a strong educational foundation, the most powerful learning still happens at home. Literacy development begins at birth. Children who enter kindergarten with strong early literacy skills — recognizing letters, sounds, and simple words — are statistically more likely to reach key benchmarks, such as reading proficiently by third grade. Parents, grandparents, and caregivers are a child’s first and most influential teachers.
At the Early Learning Coalition of Alachua County, we see the impact of engaged families and strong early learning experiences every day. Children who enter VPK unsure of letters and sounds often leave confident and eager to read. This transformation happens when families and educators work together with intention. When children start kindergarten ready, teachers can focus on instruction rather than remediation, and children begin their educational journey with confidence.
One of the most effective ways families can support early literacy is through daily reading and exposure to sight words such as “the,” “and,” and “you.” Recognizing these words helps children read more smoothly and confidently. These skills can be built through simple, consistent activities like reading a bedtime story, placing words around the home, or talking during everyday routines.
We encourage every family with a four-year-old to enroll in VPK and commit to just 15 minutes a day of reading and word recognition. These small, consistent actions can significantly impact a child’s educational trajectory. Early investment reduces the need for later intervention and supports long-term success.
This is a shared responsibility. Schools, families, and community partners must work together to ensure children are prepared to thrive. When we align our efforts, we strengthen outcomes, not just for groups of children, but for each individual child.
On May 9, 2026, from 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m., families are invited to join us for our VPK Prom at Touchdown Terrace at the University of Florida. This celebration recognizes children preparing for kindergarten and highlights what is possible when we invest early and intentionally.
Kindergarten readiness is not a single milestone. It is the result of intentional effort, strong partnerships, and daily engagement. When we work together, we move closer to a shared vision: Ready for School, Ready for Life.
Xaviera White, CEO, Early Learning Coalition of Alachua County, and Tammy Prince, Board Chair
Xaviera White is the Chief Executive Officer of the Early Learning Coalition of Alachua County. Tammy Prince serves as Board Chair and a dedicated community advocate for early childhood education and family engagement.
The opinions expressed by letter or opinion writers are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of AlachuaChronicle.com. Assertions of facts in letters are similarly the responsibility of the author. Letters may be submitted to info@alachuachronicle.com and are published at the discretion of the editor.
Good program.
Gotta get ’em in school to be effective.
Good program – +1 !
Having a child is a huge personal responsibility…it’s good to have both a mother and a father…don’t breed em if you can’t educate & feed em…
Thanks for the advice gramps, but beyond the fact that we native Americans don’t reproduce anywhere close to replacement numbers – which is why we need immigrants to maintain a growing economy – but our species didn’t survive and flourish only after life insurance policies were invented.
While your advice is welcome – and take my opinion on this as a corollary, not a rebuke, people live with reason and passion, and young people always with more of the latter. You can’t change that, nor should we pretend we can. It is true that women are having children much later in life here, but that is not all good.
My wife and I were living on a shoe string when we had our 1st – ultimately 2 – and managed to have both of them reading very early – cut the TV – and now both are good responsible people who are successful economically, socially, and culturally, one with a professional degree. Yes. we were lucky and don’t claim their sucess as ours. Both benefitted from educational opportunities here that were cheap to free.
Apart from that, we came from a culture that valued education, including the basic tool, reading. You don’t need savings and investments to practice that and the hope and plan should be that we can spread that outlook to those not raised up in it themselves. It wasn’t an accident that through both slavery and Jim Crow purposefully not educating blacks was the plan, and then when forced to, less resources were placed there. 400 years of this kind of ill treatment won’t be resolved in 2 generations and we are still working on that.