Ensuring Children Enter Kindergarten Prepared

Creating better alignment, coordination, efficiencies and concise messaging among once fragmented funding streams and programs.

The Importance of Early Childhood

Who We Are

The Early Childhood Advisory Council and its support office, the Kentucky Governor’s Office of Early Childhood serves as the Commonwealth’s leader in uniting the most effective organizations and influencers around the first, critical years of a child’s life.

The Kentucky Governor’s Office of Early Childhood is the umbrella organization that unifies partners to overcome fragmented funding and programs with better alignment, coordination, efficiencies, and messaging for a positive impact upon early childhood policy and practice. They promote a vision for high-​quality, shared measurement, alignment of data-driven strategies, building public will and the mobilization and coordinate new and innovative funding sources.​

A family of three running through a sprinkler on the lawn

Play with me

Simple acts of play can help a child get ready for kindergarten— and put them on a path to lifelong success.

Kids flourish with early learning. View our Family Guides for more ideas.

Early Childhood Institute

​November 6 - 7, 2024​

​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​Early ​​Childhood ​​Standards

A framework developed by a statewide workgroup of representative stakeholders in early care and education that is designed to help ​others understand what ​children are ​able to know and do ​from birth through four ​​years of ​age.

View ​​Standards​​

Bright Spots

Across the Commonwealth, our data-d​riven ​strategies are ensuring ​that more children in Kentucky have a ​strong start.

See Our Impact​​​​​​​​​