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The CHaFE 150 supports READY! For Kindergarten A birth-to-5 education program for families All monies raised in the CHaFE 150 will go to the Panhandle Alliance for Education in support of Ready! For Kindergarten, an early childhood literacy program to benefit children and enhance education in the Lake Pend Oreille School District of northern Idaho.
It is a fact: Early literacy skills result in higher graduation rates from high school, lower delinquency rates and school and job competitiveness. We believe every child in this community deserves a chance. The Panhandle Alliance for Education has been all about creating chances for students and families in this corner of North Idaho since its formation in 2002. We are guided by a simple notion: When you give children a chance, they can be great! Children from their earliest months are voracious learners, learning more and faster in their first three years than at any other stage of their development. The Ready! for Kindergarten program aims to help families with children from birth to age 5. The goal is to empower the parents as the first and most influential teachers in the child's life. Trained teachers reach up to 20 parents at a time in a classroom setting. Each class of 20 parents is oriented to a specific child's age: 0-1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Parents leave each class with a new sense of empowerment and with high quality books, toys, and an understanding of how to play purposefully with their toddlers. Activities in the child's home environment are tracked. The program aims to prepare children with basic readiness tools; letters and sounds, math and reasoning, social and emotional skills. Through funding from Panhandle Alliance for Education and the generosity of donors, this program is offered free to families in the Bonner County School District. Over 50 percent of students in the LPOSD are eligible for free or reduced lunch, more than 10 percent higher than the state average. It's a fact: Lower-income students eligible for free- and reduced-price lunches had lower average NAEP reading scores than students who were not eligible. At current estimates, the cost of bringing a child to kindergarten readiness is about $240 per year as compared to the more than $8,000 per child, per year, that it costs our district to provide special education once a child is in school. The school district averages 225 to 240 new kindergarteners each year. From this, we could estimate that we have approximately 1,000 children in our community between the ages of 0 to 5. Our hope is to reach 200 families each year with this program.
The Ready! materials and information, as well as support from other parents, is an enticement for parents to continue. Children of parents who attend all classes receive a book a month from the Dolly Parton Foundation at no charge. Retention rates in other districts have been between 88% and 91%. We are inviting you to create a chance for these children and yourself.
Read more about the program at the Panhandle Alliance for Education's website: www.ReadySandpoint.org |
About Ready! For Kindergarten. The LPOSD school population includes large numbers of disadvantaged children. Early literacy efforts have proved to be effective in dramatically increasing these children's chance of success. Nearly half of entering kindergarteners in our school district were below grade level proficiency in 2006. On the first day of kindergarten, the range between students is as many as six years in reading skills and four years in math. The achievement gap originates in the home before a student's first day of kindergarten. Sadly, for many students, that gap remains through 12th grade. Increasing literacy skills in children before kindergarten helps them gain vital confidence and a love of learning that will follow them through their years of education. Website designed and hosted by
Keokee Creative Group of Sandpoint, Idaho