Ropes Pra olor ENGAGE EMPOWER ELEVATE Dr. Steen Chapman, Distt PO Hos 717 Jet Powell Present lexan, Lousiana 71306 Supertendet BISANT-OSSE © FAX S-00-3167 IMMEDIATE RELEASE ‘Media Contact Cindy Rushing, Rapides Parish School Board Director of Early Childhood / Head Start (318) 442-8891 ext. 3356 or cindy.cushing@rpsb.us RAPIDES PARISH SCHOOL BOARD EARLY CHILDHOOD CELEBRATES HIGHEST PERFORMANCE SCORES AND HOW THE COMMUNITY IS SUPPORTING RAPIDES EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION Louisiana Department of Education Early Childhood Performance Profiles Released in November 2023/Eariy Childhood Education Fund ‘Today, the Rapides Parish School Board Superintendent Jeff Powell and Early Childhood/Head Start Director Cindy Rushing announced the progress, advancements and community efforts of the Rapides Parish Early Childhood Education Program. All children in Rapides Parish deserve access to high-quality early education and care so that more children are positioned for success in the early elementary grades and beyond. Jeff Powell stated, “The three key components that are critical to our children’s future are high quality, access and community.” The Louisiana Department of Education has released the 2022-2023 Early Childhood Performance Profiles and the Rapides Parish District Performance Profile score i 5.84, up from 5.75 for 21-22. Rapides ranks 6" in Louisiana wth the district performance score. The Rapides Early Childhood Network has 27 Early Childhood sites that are Excellent for 22-23. Cindy Rushing explained, “this means that their combined score for teacher evaluations is six to seven out of a possible seven points, Ten schoo! sites, one Head Start site, and sixteen early learning centers are scored Excellent. Of the sixty-nine providers in Early Childhood, there are NO unsatisfactory or approaching basic sites. Only six sites are proficient with a score of 4.50-5.24 out of a possible seven, and the remaining 36 providers are High Proficient with a score of $.25-5.98.” Rushing further stated, being ‘anked 6" is significant because the top five districts have between three to thirteen providers in their community network. Rapides has 69 providers. “itis a team effort in Rapides as we continue to strive for excellence every day. Doing so pays huge dividends for children and their families.” Rapides Parishs ultimate goal is to close the gap and have every child in Rapides Parish enter kindergarten ready for success. While progress is being made, access to quality early childhood learning is needed, Today, too few children are being served in the bith to three population due to the lack of, funding, At-risk families desire for ther children to access quality early care but do not have the means Wilton Batos, I, Distt A + Steve Bey, Distt B+ Mark Dry, District C+ Willa B, MeCall, Dstt D Lind Burgess, Disrit F + Keith Breaeae, District G+ Darel Rodrigue, Dist H «Sandra Franklin, Distt |ENGAGE EMPOWER ELEVATE Dy. Spe Chapman, Dis 10 ox 717 set rowel ea Alen, Lovins 71306 Sopa ANSI AST ‘or affordable childcare, Rapides Parish serves less than 20-25 percent of the at-risk population from birth to age three but serves over 90% of at-risk four-year olds. Toassist in increasing early childhood learning opportunities, community partners including The Rapides Foundation, Central Louisiana Community Foundation, the Rotary Club of Alexandria, and community stakeholders have joined together to support access expansion and enrollment in quality early Childhood programs for Rapides Parish children, ages 0-3. Rapides Parish is participating in the Lousiana Early Childhood Education Fund program, which offers local entities in Lousiana a dolar-for dollar ‘match on investments made to expand access to quality early care and education for children who need it most. ‘The Rapides Foundation’s Board of Trustees allocated up to $3.9 million to help low-income families in ‘three parishes afford early childhood education. Ths project is funded under the Foundation’s School Readiness Initiative, which has the goal of increasing kindergarten readiness through the support, expansion or establishment of high-quality early childhood programs to support the teacher-child and ‘amily-child interactions. OF that amount, $2.4 million has been awarded to the Rapides Parish School Board. $1.4 milion will be used to provide the local dollar match required to receive funds from the Louisiana Early Childhood Education Fund and $1 million to incentivize communities to invest in early childhood education. The Foundation will match every dollar the community donates up to $1 million, which can leverage additional funds from the ECE Fund, 4J0@ Rosier, President and CEO, The Rapides Foundation stated, “Children who attend high-quality early childhood programs before kindergarten are more likely to complete high school and go through their school careers without repeating a grade. This project gives more children the chance to receive high- {quality education while their parents and guardians attend school or go to work to support thelr families.” ‘The Rotary Club of Alexandria Board has endorsed the ECE Investment Initiative as its Rotary Club of Alexandria's Signature Project, chaired by Patrick and Randalle Moore. The Rotary Club of Alexan ‘agrees to financially invest in the Rapides ECE program and commits to encouraging all members to do the same. The Community Foundation of Central Louisiana has partnered with the Rapides Parish School Early Childhood program to establish the ECE Initiative Fund, Financial contributions can be made by visiting the Central Louisiana Community Foundation, Donate to a Fund, Early Childhood Education Incentive, or the Rapides Early Childhood Network website. To learn more about the Rapides Early Childhood Network, visit https://wwwrapidesearlychildhoodnetwork.com Witton Barios, e, Distict A «Steve Bey, Disc B » Mark Dryden, District C+ Willard B, Mel, Distt D Linda Burges, Distt F «Keith Breazal, istrict G + Darel! Rodrigue2, District H » Sandra Franklin, Disc 1