LEXINGTON – A new statewide initiative that is being led by the University of Kentucky, aims to better understand how to help more children enter kindergarten ready to succeed.
Under legislation enacted by the Kentucky General Assembly in the 2026 Regular Session, UK is establishing the Kentucky Kindergarten Readiness Performance-Based Child Care Incentive Pilot Program, a pilot program to evaluate whether performance-based financial incentives for eligible parents and childcare providers improve kindergarten readiness outcomes.
“The big goal of early childhood education is helping more children arrive at kindergarten ready to learn and succeed,” said Sen. Danny Carroll, R-Paducah, who sponsored the kindergarten readiness portion of the bill. “This pilot allows Kentucky to study an innovative, outcomes-focused approach and to ask an important question: What strategies are most effective at preparing children for the next step?”…