North Carolina’s Statewide Birth – 5 Needs Assessment Report
In 2019, the Division of Child Development and Early Education (DCDEE) and UNC Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute conducted a comprehensive statewide Birth through Five Needs Assessment in collaboration with numerous partners, including early childhood education agencies, providers, specialists such as Smart Start, Head Start/Early Head Start, the Cherokee Tribal Community, the Salvation Army, and families of young children.
This effort helped identify gaps in services and barriers to providing high quality early childhood education services, as well as, families’ perceptions of available resources. This process also identified opportunities to improve children’s transition from preschool to public school and strategies for the best ways to track children’s outcomes at kindergarten entry. Collaboration and coordination of services across the early childhood education system were examined, with a focus on how best to meet the needs of young children, particularly our most vulnerable children, and their families.
A report of the Needs Assessment is available to download:
DCDEE looks forward to engaging its partners and stakeholders in reviewing and updating the Needs Assessment over the course of the renewal grant period.