Registration open for Early Learning Collaborative pre-k programs

For those interested in pre-k programs for their children, registration is open for the Emerson Preschool and ICS Head Start.

The partner agencies are trying to reach a total enrollment of 138 for the coming year, from 125 at both sites last year. Services for parents to improve their situations area also available through Emerson's Early Learning Collaborative. The programs are separate from the pre-k classrooms located at Sudduth Elementary School and West Elementary School.

Emerson Family School Director Joan Butler said this year's pre-k students had shown a great deal of growth since the beginning of the school years. She also said several of the parents had also shown growth, earning adult education credentials and going on to training in various career technical fields.

“When the children are in the collaborative, we also can serve the parents,” Butler said. “The parents have had lots of different opportunities, and that's something that you have to be in the collaborative to benefit from.”

The collaborative hosts monthly parent academies, where parents can learn skills to help their children succeed in the classroom.

“They could go home and help reinforce those skills that their children were learning in the classroom, those basic readiness skills,” said Early Learning Collaborative Program Coordinator Ellen Goodman. “They also had adult education and workforce development things that they could participate in.”

There are also 15 scholarship slots available for the Emerson Preschool for the coming school year. The scholarships are funded through tax credit donations to the collaborative. Families interested in scholarships are required to schedule a conference at Emerson by May 31. The conferences will be held between June 3 and June 7, with assessments for children who meet the need held between June 10 and June 14. The estimated assessment time is be