School Ready! Certification Pushes Local Pre-Ks Into Elite Status

Every morning parents drop their children off at Northwest and Woodland Heights Elementaries, preschool facilities in Brownwood.  But the children receive more than daycare, they are instructed at a level which ensures success in later years.  That’s because these pre-kindergarten programs have earned Texas School Ready certification from the Children’s Learning Institute (CLI) at the University of Texas.  More than 3,000 pre-kindergarten programs across the state participated in the Texas School Ready Project last year and more than two-thirds received certification.

“This certification recognizes the strong leadership of local community leaders in implementing the Texas School Ready Project and in taking a proven, focused approach to ensure our most at-risk young Texans receive the support they need to enter school ready to learn,” said Dr. Susan Landry, Director and Founder of UT’s Children’s Learning Institute.  “This project continues to succeed for children because of the support of not only parents, teachers and community leaders,” said Landry, “but the support of our elected and appointed leaders in Austin.”

The Texas School Ready Project is a nationally recognized preschool program, developed by UT’s Children’s Learning Institute that helps to close the achievement gap for at-risk children by preparing them to succeed in school.  This well-researched, community-based model has helped thousands of Texas children establish strong foundations for learning and success in kindergarten and in later school years.

“The Texas School Ready Project has helped prepare children for school,” said Stacy Smith, Principal at Northwest Elementary where ten classrooms are certified.  “We applaud our teachers and families for their hard work in preparing preschoolers for a lifetime of success.”

Teachers in the Texas School Ready! certified classrooms at Northwest Elementary are Dana Cyr, Guadalupe Butka, Laura Atchley, Linda Cooper, Lisa Adkins, Martha Woods, and Regan Williams.  Another Northwest teacher, Billy Taylor, was the district coordinator for the program. Woodland Heights Elementary has two certified classroom, taught by Amber Moore and Susan Baugh.

The result of seven years of bipartisan effort among elected leaders in Austin, the Texas School Ready Project is currently being modeled in other states and the Children’s Learning Institute has been tapped by various states to review and improve their preschool programs.

Photo Caption: School Ready Classrooms at Northewest Elementary are taught by (back)  Lisa Adkins, Billy Taylor, and Christine Young, who taught Pre-K last year, and is now the school counselor, (front) Guadalupe Butka and Laura Atchley. Other teachers were unavailable for photo.

Woodland Heights Caption: Woodland Heights Teachers, Susan Baugh and Amber Moore, are in Texas School Ready certified classrooms.