Ready Willing Able

READY

WILLING ABLE

From the Director

O

ur quarters on Westminster Street have always been a busy and bustling place, but never more so than in the past year and a half. On any given weeknight or Saturday, you’ll find two or three large classes of parents or early childhood educators in our training rooms, small groups of program administrators receiving individualized assistance in other rooms, and often a dozen or more children in a space set aside for child care while their parents are in class. In the community, you’ll find still more Ready to Learn staff members leading classes in the schools and other settings.

Since our inception in 2003, we’ve never doubted the value of investing in young children and the adults who care for and educate them. The data we’ve received in recent months clearly validate that conviction. Findings from external evaluators reveal that parents who engaged in our training were better able to support their children’s learning. And an internal review of standardized test data found that third-graders who had participated in our pre-kindergarten classrooms or whose early childhood teachers had participated in one of our professional development programs outperform their peers in both reading and math. To see such positive results is extremely gratifying.

Instrumental in making this work possible, of course, are the public and private funders listed on the back cover, many of them long-time partners. In reviewing the data, I can tell them without equivocation that their dollars have changed the future of hundreds of young children in our poorest neighborhoods.

In the past couple of years the state has made tremendous strides in strengthening the early childhood workforce, thanks in large part to the Race to the Top Early Learning Challenge Grant. Ready to Learn has been a critical partner in this effort through its participation in the Center for Early Learning Professionals, which provides training and other assistance to programs and educators, and through T.E.A.C.H. Early Childhood® RI, a project that offers scholarships to early childhood educators seeking higher education. Sustaining these important initiatives after the grant expires in 2016 presents a big challenge for us and the state.

Do help us continue the valuable work we and our partners have begun. I can’t think of an investment with greater returns.

Leslie Gell Director, Ready to Learn Providence

READY to Learn All young children will be healthy and ready to learn.

W

ith that vision always in mind, Ready to Learn Providence offers a wide range of programs for early childhood educators, families and children

in low-income neighborhoods across the state. Since 2003, well over 3,000 adults and young children have participated in one or more of our programs.

Here’s what we’ve been doing recently and why it matters.

Since January 1, 2014:

525 family members attended courses on strengthening the social, emotional and cognitive skills of their children.

Mind in the Making and The Incredible Years were built on years of rigorous research, and our external evaluators have found statistically significant changes in the attitudes, beliefs and behaviors of participants in our classes.

558 teachers of young children (birth to grade 3) attended one or more of R2LP’s professional development courses. An additional

95 early childhood educators attended college,

thanks to T.E.A.C.H. Early Childhood® RI., a project of Ready to Learn.

1,250 early childhood educators took advantage

of one or more of the offerings at the state’s Center

for Early Learning Professionals since it got under way in the spring of 2014. The center offers professional development, individualized technical assistance, and quality improvement grants.

The Education Development Center and Ready to Learn are partners in this project, which is funded with dollars from the Race to the Top Early Learning Challenge Grant.

36 children, chosen by lottery in Providence and Pawtucket, attend our two state-funded

pre-kindergarten classrooms each year, and we’ll be operating a third classroom in 2015/16. BrightStars, Rhode Island’s quality rating and improvement system, has recognized the classroom at CCRI (on the Liston Campus in Providence) as a five-star program since 2010.

In 2014 Ready to Learn Providence, in partnership with the Providence Public School Department, began offering Mind in the Making to teachers, assistant teachers and others in the Providence schools who work with young children. This program covers the seven essential life skills every child needs to succeed.

READY to Engage C

hildren whose families are engaged in their schools and

their learning typically outperform their peers.

Ready to Learn and the Providence Public School Department are bringing Mind in the Making to families, teachers and other school personnel who work with young children. Participants learn how to strengthen a child’s executive function skills – such as being able

Family members, such as those in this photo, tell our external evaluators that Mind in the Making, which was created by the Families and Work Institute, has helped them take a much more active role in the education of their children.

to focus, feel empathy and think creatively – at home and in school. By 2017, we’ll bring this eight-session course to more than 1,800 family members and 300 school personnel in Providence.

to

C

Move

and to

Smile

hildren who move their bodies throughout the day not only stay more fit – they also learn better. Since January 2014,

Ready to Learn has brought I Am Moving, I Am Learning to 213 providers and AmeriCorps members who work in more than 100 center- and home-based early-care settings.

C

hildren who can control their behavior, and who interact well with adults and peers, generally enjoy the time they

spend at home and in the classroom, and are likely to thrive in those settings. Since January 2014, 187 parents and home-based providers completed

The Incredible Years, a course that gives adults strategies for increasing a child’s social skills and reducing challenging behaviors. In an evaluation conducted by Bradley Hospital, participants in our classes cited a significant increase in their ability to use positive strategies at home and in their educational settings. We always have a waiting list for this popular course.

WILLING to Serve

The 2014-2015 Ready to Learn Providence AmeriCorps team.

F

or a small living stipend, our 25 AmeriCorps members willingly – and enthusiastically – serve in early childhood centers, libraries, WIC offices, family

engagement programs in public schools, and Ready to Learn’s professional development programs. R2LP AmeriCorps members have performed well over 500,000 hours of service in Providence, Pawtucket and Central Falls since our first team joined us in 2004.

Most of our AmeriCorps members go into the early childhood field after completing their service. The training and work experience they receive in our AmeriCorps program give them the résumé and confidence they need to enter the workforce or to further their education.

ABLE T

to

Lead

hanks to T.E.A.C.H. Early

ChildhoodÂŽ RI, 128 early childhood

educators have completed 835 college courses, and 20 have received associate degrees. T.E.A.C.H. pays up to 90 percent of their costs for tuition and books.

Seventy-four T.E.A.C.H. scholars are currently pursuing degrees and coursework at the Community College of Rhode Island and Rhode Island College, and another 30 will be starting college in the fall of 2015. Nearly one-third of the state’s licensed child-care

T.E.A.C.H. RI Director Maura Pearce, left, with T.E.A.C.H. scholar Deepani Ambalangodage.

centers are sponsoring one or more scholars.

As the state pushes to expand access to high-quality early-care settings, these educators will be ready, willing and able to give our young children the best possible start.

and to

E

Succeed

arly childhood education has moved onto the national radar,

receiving bipartisan recognition of its value. Numerous studies show that low-income children who have attended a high-quality program are far better able to compete with their more affluent peers in kindergarten and beyond.

Thanks to the funders listed on the back cover, the children in our pre-kindergarten classrooms, and the thousands more we reach through their parents and educators, will be able to succeed in school – and throughout life.

THANK YOU Your funding is making this work possible.

The A.M. Fund The Annie E. Casey Foundation The Bezos Family Foundation Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Rhode Island Brown Rudnick Charitable Foundation The Campaign for Grade Level Reading Corporation for National Service/Serve Rhode Island The Dexter Donation Fund/City of Providence Exceed/Race to the Top Early Learning Challenge Grant Hasbro Children’s Fund Providence Community Library/Institute of Museum and Library Services Providence Schools/Institute for Educational Leadership R.I. Department of Education R.I. Department of Health The Rhode Island Foundation Rhode Island General Assembly U.S. Department of Education/Investing in Innovation Fund United Way of Rhode Island

Ready to Learn Providence is a program of The Providence Plan

Ready

to

Learn Providence

945 Westminster Street, Providence, R.I. 02903 401.490.9960 www.r2lp.org

June 2015