Investing in Early Education

Since its start, Ready to Learn Providence has focused on the early-care system that currently exists. To change the outcomes of inner-city children, we have invested heavily in the professional development of educators already at work in home- and center-based settings.

By offering all of our courses, materials and mentoring support in Spanish as well as English, we have filled an important niche in the urban neighborhoods of Providence, Pawtucket and Central Falls. Since 2003, more than 2,000 educators have participated in one or more of our programs; 60 percent identify Spanish as their primary language.

Most of our courses run 36 or more hours, and they usually accompany intensive mentoring support. By forging partnerships with the Community College of Rhode Island and the University of Rhode Island, we have been able to offer four of our courses for college credit.

To date, most participants in our professional development courses are part of programs funded by large grants. We are currently operating our third Early Reading First program in five child-care centers in Providence, Pawtucket and Central Falls. Between 2006 and 2009, we trained nearly 300 center- and home-based educators through a $3.2 million Early Childhood Educator Professional Development grant.

Ready to Learn Providence works with BrightStars, the state’s quality rating and improvement system (QRIS) for early-care settings. With grants from the United Way of Rhode Island and BrightStars, we provide targeted training for home- and center-based settings seeking to address identified needs in their evaluations or to advance to the next star.

In 2010, we became the Rhode Island home of T.E.A.C.H. Early Childhood®.  T.E.A.C.H., which is now in nearly two dozen states, increases access to higher education for early-care educators by providing college scholarships. It then connects this increased education with increased compensation, which leads to better teacher retention.

Some 260 Spanish-speaking home child-care providers in Providence, Pawtucket and Central Falls are members of R2LP's El Club de Proveedoras de Cuidado Infantil de Rhode Island. Day-long workshops provide members with valuable training as well as an important professional and social network.

For fuller descriptions of these and other R2LP programs, please go to the links at right.