Strong support for RIDE preschool cited in national report

A NATIONAL REPORT released Friday put Rhode Island's preschool programs among the top in the country. Above, R.I. Commissioner of Elementary and Secondary Education Deborah A. Gist talks with children last year at the Smith Hill Early Childhood Learning Center in Providence. / COURTESY R.I. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
A NATIONAL REPORT released Friday put Rhode Island's preschool programs among the top in the country. Above, R.I. Commissioner of Elementary and Secondary Education Deborah A. Gist talks with children last year at the Smith Hill Early Childhood Learning Center in Providence. / COURTESY R.I. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

In 2013, Rhode Island fully met standards for quality in its state-supported early-learning program, according to “The State of Preschool 2013,” a report from the National Institute of Early Education Research.
The state is one of four to meet all 10 quality-standards benchmarks.
“Rhode Island continues to offer its small but well-funded, high-quality program,” said the institute, which is part of the Rutgers Graduate School of Education. “The state ranks fourth in per-child spending, at $9,278… Rhode Island is a state to watch for its strong support of high-quality programs.”
Key benchmarks include having in place comprehensive early learning standards, requiring teachers to hold a bachelor’s degree with a specialization in early learning, and setting a class size of 20 or fewer and a teacher-student ratio of 1:10 or better.
According to the report, in 2012-13, approximately $800,000 from state general funds were used to support the Rhode Island Pre-Kindergarten Program, which served 130 children aged 4 and 5. In September 2012, the program was available to 144 4-year-old children in eight classrooms in five urban communities.
The Ocean State also was one of nine nationwide to receive a grant in the first round of federal funding for the “Race to the Top” early learning challenge, the report noted.
Deborah A. Gist, Rhode Island’s commissioner of elementary and secondary education, said the recognition is a point of pride for the R.I. Department of Education.
“High-quality programs for early learning are a key factor that help us prepare our children for success in school,” Gist said in a statement. “It is essential that all children, regardless of the economic status of their family or their community, have opportunities to enroll in high-quality early-learning programs.”
The program is still in its early stages and growing annually, Gist said. This year, thanks to additional funding, 234 students attend 13 state-funded pre-kindergarten classes in seven communities. RIDE plans to expand the program again during the coming school year as additional funds become available.
The program is offered at no cost to the participating families and is open to all residents of the communities in which the classes are located. In July, RIDE will announce the program sites and application process for the coming school year.
Due to the “Exceed” initiative (funded through the federal Race to the Top grant), RIDE and partner agencies also are involved in an initiative to increase access to early learning programs and improve program quality in public preschools, child-care centers, and family home-care centers.
To date, that initiative has awarded approximately $500,000 in quality improvement grants to programs serving nearly 3,000 children across the state, RIDE said.

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