The Ready4K text messaging literacy program is back for the 2022-23 school year and is expanding to serve more Memphis-Shelby County Schools students.

This year, the Ready4K program will add two new grades to support MSCS Pre-K – 5 families with literacy learning at home with free access to the Ready4K text messaging. 

A partnership with the Tennessee Department of Education and the Governor’s Early Literacy Foundation, Ready4K is a research-based text messaging system designed to help bridge the gap between the classroom and the home and ensure that students are learning no matter where they are. It provides a unique and simple opportunity for parents to help support their child’s learning. 

Here is how it works:

• The Ready4K app will deliver three weekly texts with fun facts and tips to give parents simple, engaging tips to help their child continue learning at home.
• The messages match each child’s age, even if the parent has more than one child.
• Ready4K tips help build on daily routines, like getting dressed, bath time, or preparing a meal.

Schools, teachers, or parents have no set-up or special requirement. Parents will receive an initial text message; then, the weekly texts will continue. With the excellent benefits Ready4K offers students, MSCS encourages families not to opt-out of the program.

More than 4 million Ready4k text messages have been sent to MSCS families since the program launched in Spring 2021, and more than 30,000 families remain actively enrolled in Ready4k.

Ready4K is scheduled to start the week of November 14. Parents can expect to receive Ready4K text messages weekly on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. 

For additional information about Ready4K, click here.