April 10, 2014 was our last Equity meeting for the 2013-2014 school year. For tonight’s meeting we went to the Educare of Lincoln site adjacent to Belmont Elementary School.
Here is a link to the Educare of Lincoln blog http://wp.lps.org/educarelincoln/
The Director the program, Julia Dadds, gave us a overview of the program and gave us a tour of the facility.
There are 10 core features of the Educare Program.
- Provide full- day, full year services. This is very hard and needs to be done with more than just Head Start funding.
- Implement reflective supervision and practice
- Provide continuity of care
- Implement an interdiscplinary approach
- Provide enhanced focus on language and literacy
- Use research- based strategies
- Maintain small class size and high/staff child ratios
- Offer on- family support
- Maintain high staff qualifications
- Provide strong emphasis on social- emotional development
Educare of Lincoln has 4 Partners, this is a true collaboration, but it also has 4 different expectations and requirements. The partners are Lincoln Public Schools, Buffet Early Childhood Fund, University of Nebraska:Foundation and CEHS/CYAS and Community Action Partnership.
Here are some Specifics on Educare
- Licensed for 191 children
- Currently can fund services for 158 children
- 49 staff
- ALL low- income families
- 16% speak Arabic
- 18% speak Spanish
- 16 classrooms with 6 specially suited for infants
- 2 large observation rooms
- on site kitchen
- all highly qualified staff, BA’s MA’s.
- 3 Family Engagement Specialists with Education or Social Work degrees