The Mississippi Department of Education issued the following notice:
MDE to Seek Proposals for Additional Early Learning Collaboratives
JACKSON, Miss. – The Mississippi Department of Education issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) today for additional Early Learning Collaboratives (ELCs), which will expand the number of publicly funded pre-K classrooms throughout the state.
The Early Learning Collaborative Act of 2013 established the ELC program, which provides funding to local communities to establish, expand, support and facilitate the successful implementation of quality early childhood education and development services.
The ELC expansion is made possible by a $1 million increase in state funds for the program, which brings the total appropriation to $4 million for fiscal year 2017.
Currently, there are 10 ELCs serving approximately 1,700 students statewide. The National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER) recognized Mississippi’s ELCs in its 2015 State of Preschool yearbook for meeting all 10 quality standards for early childhood education, putting Mississippi among the top states in the nation that meet all 10 benchmarks.
“High-quality early childhood education programs are one of the most effective ways to give children a strong start to school and life,” said Dr. Carey Wright, state superintendent of education. “I am pleased our state leaders have dedicated additional resources to our state’s youngest students.”
ELCs must include a lead partner, which can be a public school or other nonprofit group with the expertise and capacity to manage an ELC’s pre-K program. Funds will be competitively awarded based on evidence of existing strong local collaboration, capacity, commitment, need, ability to demonstrate enhanced outcomes for participating children, and availability of funds.
A statewide assessment of kindergarten readiness among students in the state’s ELCs in spring 2016 showed that all ELCs achieved the target score on the Kindergarten Readiness Assessment that indicates students are prepared for kindergarten. At the student-level, 71.4 percent met the target readiness score, which is an increase from 59 percent in 2015.
The MDE will hold an informational meeting for prospective applicants from 10 a.m. to noon Sept. 6 at the MDE Central High School Building, 359 N. West St. in Jackson. Applicants may register for the meeting at the GoSignMeUp link on the MDE homepage.
The deadline to submit proposals is Sept. 26. Award notifications will be issued on Nov. 10.
For more information, visit www.mde.k12.ms.us/ec. Questions concerning the RFP should be sent to: jdent@mdek12.org.
9 comments:
Can someone explain how this is not an effort to use taxpayer's money on free childcare for people that don't work?
4:32, you are right. This is babysitting. We already pay the doctor bill for delivering their child, pay WIC and SNAP to feed the kid, pay for housing, will pay for all schooling for the kid including a sack lunch to take home to parents. Wait a minute, is there actually any cost of raising a kid that the parents pay?
Who buy the expensive shoes and pro sports apparal these kids be wearing??
4:32 and 4:51: you two have no clue of the tremendous need and successful results of Early Childhood Education. Why should children of more affluent parents have access to ECE?
Don't we already pay for the Head Start Collaboratives?
Any bureaucrat who uses that term ought to be immediately put out to pasture with zero PERS benefits.
If your on public assistance, and you become pregnant, then you should be sterilized. This would solve almost all of this country's problems. However, that's not politically correct. So I will continue to donate to planned parenthood (it's basically the same thing).
"Why should children of more affluent parents have access to ECE?"
Please explain what you're talking about.
Statistics show any positive effects of early childhood education disappear by the third grade.
That would be impossible to know or demonstrate, 9:23. There is nothing to show that it works or that it doesn't. But, it would succeed in adding additional rooms onto the bureaucratic empire that is MDE. And it would rescue about another 60 failed educators who still need some PERS years.
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