Who we are...
Ready To Learn is PBS's nationwide effort to ensure all America's children are prepared for educational success. Funding is provided by the Ready To Learn Television Cooperative Agreement from the U.S. Department of Education through the Public Broadcasting Service. Ready To Learn service provides on air, online and print resources and local support to help parents and early childhood educators prepare children for success in school. The service now involves more than 140 local PBS stations that broadcast high quality PBS KIDS television programs to 93 percent of the country including 93 million homes with 37 million children. Our program is designed to build partnerships with local community organizations such as childcare centers, schools, libraries, businesses, civic groups, and government agencies.

Ready To Learn has two primary components:

(1) developing new children's educational television programming and online learning resources for adults and children.

(2) extending the value of children's educational television through local workshops for parents and early childhood educators to help them use PBS KIDS programs as teaching tools with the children in their care.

What we do...
As part of our goal to get kids "ready to learn", we assist parents and early childhood educators across the nation use public television resources to help children love learning. Second only to parents, television is the young child's most influential teacher. Nothing else in our culture can match television's ability to influence how children learn, think, and act. Given the power of television, young children need adults to help them become wise television users. Many studies show that with selective viewing, television can contribute to school readiness. To help children get the most from the TV they watch, parents must take responsibility to supervise and guide their children's TV viewing.

Our Impact.
Ready To Learn has had a positive impact on parents and early childhood educators who attend a workshop. After attending Ready To Learn workshops, the television viewing habits of families improved. As parents learned to become better television gatekeepers, their families spent more time together reading and doing education-related activities. In addition, children watched less television overall, and the programs watched included more educational content.