ABOUT ECARE
ECARE is a business led and volunteer driven collaborative that mobilizes community stakeholders to drive overall birth to five early learning results. Kindergarten readiness is a predictor of third grade reading achievement, which correlates to high school graduation rates. It is our goal to build a strong foundation of students entering the education system ready to learn. Together we can develop a prepared workforce that contributes to economic growth and development in Escambia County through effective early childhood development.
PROJECT READY
Project Ready is a focused program to prepare students for kindergarten, thereby improving the long term educational success for all children living in the attendance zone of the new downtown elementary school, the Global Learning Academy. We are referring to this area as the Ready Zone.
Through an active Partners Council, spring Early Childhood Summit and Unite Escambia partnership, ECARE has mobilized stakeholders including business leaders, educators, social service providers and community members to collaborate toward this goal. This broad community participation has contributed to the development of the following objectives for Project Ready:
GOAL
All kindergarten students at the Global Learning Academy enter school ready to learn
OBJECTIVES:
- To identify children birth to age four in the Ready Zone, with an initial focus on children who are enrolled in early care and education programs. As the anticipated kindergarten enrollment at the Global Learning Academy is 108 students, our goal is to grow to capture 100 children in both the three and four year old cohorts.
- To leverage existing community resources by focusing volunteer efforts in the Ready Zone; promoting the elementary school as a resource to parents of both enrolled and future students; and encouraging participation in existing parent and provider education, support and involvement activities.
- To assess early literacy development three times per year by administering the Florida Voluntary Pre-Kindergarten Assessment to four year olds and Get Ready to Read screening tool or Phonological Awareness and Literacy Screening (PALS) to three year olds. Assessment results will guide Project Ready efforts.
- To empower all stakeholders- teachers, parents, early learning providers, school leaders and community organizations- with the data they need to make informed decisions regarding educational, developmental and social services for young children and the direction of community resources.
- To utilize data including kindergarten readiness scores, FCAT scores, promotion rates and on-time high school graduation rates to develop a research based Ready Model that can be successfully replicated in any elementary school zone in Escambia County and the state of Florida.