Early Childhood Education
Learn to Earn Dayton’s longtime partner Preschool Promise brings expertise, outreach, and successful program management to the first milestone on the cradle-to-career continuum.
Why It Matters:
Kindergarten readiness is closely linked to future academic achievement and life success. During these critical formative years, children begin to explore and discover the wider world around them. They learn language, understand that letters form words, and relate words to the things they see. Children develop fundamental skills and responses in early childhood that build strong foundations for reading, counting, and social interactions.
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Kindergarten Readiness
Ohio uses the “Kindergarten Readiness Assessment” tool to facilitate guided observation of a child’s preparedness for school. Skilled kindergarten teachers assess students within the first six weeks of school to make determinations about the child’s knowledge and ability in four key areas: social and emotional development, language and literacy, mathematics, and physical well-being and motor development.
Preschool Promise
Thanks to Dayton voters and Montgomery County, Preschool Promise:
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HELPS Preschool providers improve their programming
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PROVIDES need-based tuition assistance
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EDUCATES the community about the importance of children attending Preschool
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Groundwork Ohio
Groundwork Ohio is a key statewide partner, focused on the time when children’s experiences and environments most influence their health, development, and life trajectory: from birth to age 5. Learn to Earn Dayton and Preschool Promise bring the commitment to data, research, and policy to the county level, for the benefit of area families and children.
Student Success
Learn to Earn Dayton knows that to reach our big goal of a more highly-educated workforce, there are stepping stones along the way that must start early in a child’s academic career. By aligning efforts with school districts, out-of-school partners, elected officials, and community organizations, we are committed to creating an educational system that provides each student with equitable access to future economic prosperity.
Attendance Matters
National and local data show that a student’s attendance, starting in preschool and continuing through the elementary grades, directly correlates with the student’s academic success. Attendance Works, a national organization dedicated to reducing chronic absenteeism, offers data and tips. Learn to Earn Dayton partnered with Dayton 6th to launch Every Day in School Matters.
Summer + Afterschool Collaborative
Understanding that a student’s academic success isn’t solely based on what happens in the classroom, Learn to Earn Dayton launched the Summer + Afterschool Collaborative in 2017. The program has expanded to include dozens of formal and informal out-of-school organizations, striving to provide best practices for high-quality learning experiences.
High-Impact Tutoring
HIT is a research-backed, evidence-proven strategy to enhance academic achievement through personalized instruction, frequent assessments, and targeted interventions. The approach boosts academic performance, student motivation and engagement. In Summer 2024, a diverse regional coalition convened by Learn to Earn Dayton, was selected to participate in a competitive design sprint with Results for America to launch a High Impact Tutoring (HIT) program that balances best national practices and the needs of our local community. The lessons from the work and the early pilot continue to support area students.
Reading is Lit
In 2023, Learn to Earn Dayton introduced a new resource for the community – Literacy Kits to support early grade reading proficiency. After months of development, testing, and preparation, Learn to Earn Dayton and ThinkTV PBS launched “Reading Is Lit” literacy kits for early grade students. Each box features a grade-level aligned book and multiple hands-on learning activities and engaging videos for families to support literacy at home.
Student Vision
Key to Learn to Earn Dayton’s approach is centering and amplifying the voice of the students and families we are serving. In 2023, the City of Dayton contracted with Learn to Earn Dayton to coordinate the My Voice. My City. My Future. project, with the goal of creating a youth master plan for Dayton – by and for teens.
Early Childhood Education News
Kindergarten Readiness
Ohio uses the “Kindergarten Readiness Assessment” tool to facilitate guided observation of a child’s preparedness for school. Skilled kindergarten teachers assess students within the first six weeks of school to make determinations about the child’s knowledge and ability in four key areas: social and emotional development, language and literacy, mathematics, and physical well-being and motor development.