|  | McKnight Foundation grant helps create new programs for Saint Paul 4-year-olds
10/7/2004 9:00 AMSaint Paul Public Schools today (Thursday, Oct. 7, 2004) announced that it has received a $2.8 million grant from The McKnight Foundation to begin the development of a new program for 4-year-olds.
The three-year grant will fund Project Early K, an effort to reduce the achievement gap by developing a seamless transition from preschool to kindergarten for all children in Saint Paul.
Project Early K will create nine new programs for 4-year-olds that use curriculum and instruction aligned with the proven tools and techniques currently used in Saint Paul's K-12 classrooms. In an effort to reach as many young children as possible, a set of community-based child care providers will also be included in the project.
"Our Early Childhood programs are tremendously important, successful and popular," said Superintendent Patricia Harvey. "Unfortunately, due to funding constraints, we have not been able to meet the demand for these critical programs. Thanks to The McKnight Foundation, we are able to move forward with a plan that facilitates cooperation between early education providers and K-12 educators throughout the city. We believe that the end result will be students who are more successful."
During this school year, a Project Early K Community Partnership Council will be convened to provide the district with guidance as it works to identify sites for the new programs, develop criteria to identify students for participation, oversee the development of new curriculum and create teacher-training programs.
The new programs will open at the beginning of the 2005-06 school year. During the 2006-07 school year, the district will begin working with the community-based daycare providers to help them align their work with the districts core instructional agenda.
With the creation of Project Early K, Saint Paul Public Schools is expanding its partnership with the McKnight Foundation. According to Harvey, the foundations support has been critical to helping the district achieve recent gains in student achievement. Specifically, the McKnight Foundation helped the district create and redefine school site councils at each of its schools.
"The Saint Paul Public School District has made a decisive commitment to early education, and The McKnight Foundation is delighted to be its partner in Project Early K," said Rip Rapson, McKnight Foundation's president. "High quality, accessible, integrated early childhood programs in the schools will benefit not only young children and their families, but all of us. Studies have shown that when children are well prepared for kindergarten, the public saves money through less grade retention, lower special education costs, and fewer youth encounters with the juvenile justice system. Project Early K also can be an important strategy for meeting the mandates of No Child Left Behind legislation, which demands that states close educational achievement gaps."
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