This guide is intended to help collaborative groups work together more effectively to promote children's readiness for school and provides useful information on the many factors that affect school readiness. The guide notes North Carolina's definition of school readiness as the condition of children as they enter school, based on five developmental domains, including approaches to learning and social/emotional development. The guide then explores the importance of school readiness for student success and the complexities involved in whether or not a child is ready, which include family factors, early childhood care and education, school transitional practices, emergent literacy, and community/neighborhood factors. The remainder of the guide then explores how communities can begin to address readiness and highlights factors for successful collaboration, such as involving all stakeholders, discussing the partnership's decision-making process early in its development, and disseminating data and information from assessments and evaluation. Steps for forming an effective collaborative partnership are outlined, as are important lessons learned by established collaborative partnerships. The guide concludes with a brief list of relevant resources. (HTH)