Pilot To Test In-home School Readiness Program
A pilot program will test a new in-home school
readiness
program for preschoolers from rural families in South Carolina who are
English
language learners.
The Waterford
Institute will implement the six-month pilot for 70
students in conjunction with three pre-school centers in the state:
Thornwell
Home for Children, Brookland Academy Child Development Center and Daniel
Island
Academy. Along with the software and training for the parents, Waterford
will
provide Chromebooks and Internet access for families that do not have
it.
Participants will use the Upstart
program, which includes more
than 7,000 educational activities in reading, math and science, for 15
minutes
a day, five days a week. At the end of the pilot program, it will be
evaluated
using usage data, assessment scores and anecdotal feedback from parents
and
children.
The goal will be to help the children develop early
reading
skills, alleviate any potential academic gaps and eliminate any
technology gaps
for pre-K students who may not have previously had access to computers.
"That growth would mean our children are even more
prepared in
literacy skills in kindergarten," said Brookland Academy Child
Development
Center Director Jennifer McConnell, "and that's exciting for us."
The in-home Upstart program has already been piloted
in Utah.
"Evaluations of the Utah pilot have shown that
Upstart closes
early learning gaps and that children, regardless of their
socio-economic
background, show significant gains in critical pre-K skills," said
Waterford
President and CEO Benjamin Heuston.
Although Waterford Institute's software programs are
used in
schools and preschools throughout the United States, these pilots
represent the
first tests of its in-home program.
About the Author
Michael Hart is a Los Angeles-based freelance writer and the former executive editor of THE Journal.