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ISD Collaborations |
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Since its inception, Child Care Associates has embraced opportunities for collaboration and has demonstrated success in creating partnerships to leverage resources in coordinated efforts. We have partnered with local Independent School Districts (ISD) on many occasions. Early collaborations with the City of Arlington and Arlington ISD allowed CCA to construct child care facilities on land leased from the ISD.
Fort Worth ISD pioneered our first collaboration under the current program design in 1993. This collaborative agreement allowed us to place one Head Start classroom in an elementary school and adjacent to a pre-kindergarten classroom. By doing so, the pre-K children received a full day classroom experience – half the day in the pre-K classroom and half the day in the Head Start classroom.
This arrangement proved to be very beneficial in several ways –
- The same curriculum is used in both ISD and Head Start classrooms
- Children receive added emphasis on cognitive skills with a certified ISD teacher
- The holistic approach of Head Start provides family, health and social services
- Children have an easier transition into the public school
- Increased opportunities for professional development of all staff
- Working parents did not have to arrange for half day child care
- Early involvement by parents in formal education of their children
The biggest winners were the children. Pre and post program testing revealed that the children enrolled in the combined Pre-K/Head Start program continue to make tremendous advances in skill levels during their experience in this collaboration.
With such positive results, the Fort Worth ISD program was expanded in 2000 and included 15 additional classrooms in 14 elementary schools.
This same approach was replicated in HEB ISD (Hurst-Euless-Bedford ISD) on five elementary campuses in 2002.
Since that time, Child Care Associates has entered into similar collaborations with other area ISD’s. With White Settlement ISD a Head Start facility was constructed on school district land, and the school district provided two certified teachers to work in the Head Start facility. The educational part of the program was the same as described above.
In 2003, Arlington ISD joined in our ISD collaboration by providing two certified teachers for our child development center on ISD property. In addition, collaboration with the Eagle Mountain-Saginaw ISD allowed for expansion of Head Start into four classrooms on two elementary school campuses in August 2004.
In 2005, Birdville ISD provided one certified teacher in our Carson Child Development Center. The ISD added a second certified teacher in 2006.
Today, the original collaborations with Fort Worth, Arlington, HEB and White Settlement ISD’s have grown, and new collaborations have been added.
Our current list of ISD/CCA collaborations is below:
- Fort Worth ISD - 15 campuses and 32 classrooms
- HEB ISD – four campuses and eight classrooms
- Eagle Mountain-Saginaw ISD – all early childhood services located on one campus. The pre-K/Head Start collaboration is in two classrooms on that campus.
- Arlington ISD – provides two degreed, certified teachers in one of our centers
- Metro Charter Academy – provides four degreed, certified teachers, one for each of four CCA child care centers, as well as, a degreed teacher in each of three non-CCA child care centers in Arlington.
- Birdville ISD – two teachers in our Carson Child Development Center
- White Settlement ISD – two teachers in our White Settlement Child Development Center
These collaborations are beneficial to all involved -- Child Care Associates, the collaborating ISD, the participating families, and especially the children, who are taught a school readiness curriculum that prepares them for success in kindergarten and beyond.
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