Impact Lab: Investing in our Educators

Investing in birth through five focused learning opportunities for educators and families is critical to ensuring that children have a strong foundation and the best opportunity to thrive in Kindergarten.

During the winter of 2022, we hosted our first Impact Lab conference within the Discovery High School cluster, inviting all early learning educators and administrators from the four cluster elementary schools and surrounding early learning providers. Over 100 participants, including early learning center and elementary school leaders, teachers, and support staff enjoyed a half-day Impact Lab at Baggett Elementary School, learning from keynote speaker Emily Rubin’s presentation on early brain development, engaging in breakout sessions to address the whole-child learning experience, connecting with others in the early learning field, and taking home great resources and teaching tools for supporting students and their families. The participants gave glowing reviews with 100% saying the experience was impactful and they would likely attend another Impact Lab in the future. Due to this overwhelmingly positive response, we are hoping to continue to offer this event in other school clusters depending on funding availability.

As we continue to expand our reach, we are developing Impact Lab learning models to support individual organizations and groups, as well. This includes professional development specifically designed for early learning centers, individual and group coaching support for early learning educators, and parent training opportunities. The support and continuous learning for educators and families of early learners is yet another component of the strategic plan that will move the needle on Kindergarten readiness.