News & Resources

We surveyed families enrolled in First Steps 4K classrooms across South Carolina in Spring 2022 to learn about how First Steps 4K impacts children and families. Come check out how First Steps 4K has affected parents'/caregivers' ability to work or attend school.

Teachers and directors who participated in the Quality Enhancement or Quality Counts (QE/QC) shared about their experience in the program through surveys and key informant interviews. They told us what was working and what could be improved. With their input, here is how we are taking steps to improve the QE/QC programs at SC First Steps.

We surveyed families enrolled in First Steps 4K classrooms across South Carolina in Fall 2021. We also heard from 4K families during virtual focus groups. Here is what we learned and how we are moving forward.

Connected Families is designed to prevent the unnecessary removal of children from their homes and prevent further involvement in child welfare by providing families with voluntary, coordinated services from multiple agencies.

First5SC.org connects families with programs and services for children from birth through age five.

For Our Future is a comprehensive, five-year strategic plan for the state's early childhood system.

To evaluate program effectiveness, SCFS commissioned an external evaluation of the Parents as Teachers program, focusing on the period of July 2016 to June 2019.

The First Steps 4K Family Engagement Survey was administered online in the fall of 2021.

The Quality Enhancement Quality Counts (QE/QC) Teacher Engagement Survey was administered online from November 8th to December 1st, 2021.