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Last updated on Thursday, September 25, 2014
(INDIANAPOLIS) - Governor Mike Pence Wednesday welcomed representatives of Allen, Jackson, Lake, Marion and Vanderburgh counties to a meeting for Indiana’s first, state-funded, pre-K pilot program and thanked them for their efforts to improve early education in their communities.
The five counties were selected for the program, which was established by the Indiana General Assembly in 2014, to help prepare low-income 4-year-olds for success in school.
The pre-K program will fund services delivered via accredited private schools, public schools and community-based early education providers who have achieved Level 3 or Level 4 in Paths to QUALITY™, Indiana's voluntary child care quality rating and improvement system.
"I am profoundly grateful for the efforts of these local stakeholders who, along with the state, are staunchly committed to providing high quality early educational opportunities to our most at-risk children," said Governor Pence. "We all know that the foundations of lifelong health, behavior and learning are developed in early childhood, and we are pleased by the progress made by this dynamic group to advance early education in their local communities."
While representatives of the five counties have been hard at work preparing for the pilot program, today's event is the first face-to-face meeting of all the county leadership teams, education experts, and the Indiana Family and Social Services Administration (FSSA), the agency charged with administering the pilot program. The goals of the meeting are to highlight innovative work and best practices in early education, continue ongoing local strategic planning and share additional information between FSSA and the five pilot counties, as well as among the counties so that they each can learn from the other. As many as 100 stakeholders, including educators, early education providers, funders and businesses from the five counties attended the event.
"It is through working together through innovative and collaborative partnerships, under the passionate and motivated leadership of those who gathered here together today, that we will be successful in developing a strong pilot that will make a lasting difference for low-income 4-year-olds in these counties," said Melanie Brizzi, Director of FSSA's Office of Early Childhood and Out of School Learning.
In July, FSSA announced the five counties that were chosen for the pilot program after an intensive selection process. The process was based on an objective determination of need and the county's ability and readiness to meet that need.
FSSA is continuing its work to implement the major design phases of the program, which include devising plans for the longitudinal study for students, monitoring the design and implementation of a new kindergarten readiness assessment and the program accountability system, establishing guidelines and activation of fundraising activities, and making modifications to interagency IT and staffing infrastructure to support the pilot program.
The program remains on track to launch in 2015. More information on the program is available at www.in.gov/fssa/carefinder/4899.htm
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