R2LP classroom is one of seven in state’s pre-kindergarten demonstration program

Ready to Learn Providence’s Early Learning Center at CCRI/Providence is one of seven classrooms across the state to participate in a  pre-kindergarten demonstration program that got under way September 16, 2009.

The R.I. Department of Education, which will oversee the project, notified R2LP on July 27 that its application for the project had been chosen. Twenty applicants from urban communities across the state had submitted proposals.

R2LP opened the Early Learning Center at CCRI last fall to serve working families who had lost some or all of their state-funded child-care subsidies. The 18 students in R2LP's Pre-K classroom were chosen through a lottery conducted by the state in late August.

R2LP’s pre-kindergarten classroom is free and runs from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.  Extended child care is provided, but parents are responsible for that cost.

“We’re very excited about being part of this pilot project,” says R2LP Director Leslie Gell. “Whether it’s through our many professional development programs for early-care providers already at work, or by participating in a program such as this, expanding access to high-quality child care is at the heart of everything we do. The research is clear that it makes an enormous difference not only when a child enters kindergarten but throughout his or her life.”

“We must continue to make the case for why an investment in early childhood is so important,” Education Commissioner Deborah Gist told The Providence Journal. “That’s why this study will be so important.”

The seven demonstration classrooms will adhere to 10 national benchmarks that help to ensure quality, including teacher credentials, class size, staff to child ratios, and health screenings. The National Institute for Early Education Research will measure the gains the students have made in language, literacy, early mathematics, and social and emotional development, and will report the results publicly.