Our parent organization, The Providence Plan, is celebrating its 20th anniversary with a reception at the Roger Williams Park Casino on October 11 from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. Among those to be honored that night are Joyce Butler, R2LP's founding director, and our current and past AmeriCorps teams.

"Without Joyce's vision, energy and passion, the early childhood field in Rhode Island would not be what it is today," notes R2LP Director Leslie Gell. "And as I've said many times, our AmeriCorps members are not just our legs in the community; they are our heart and soul."

This promises to be a fun evening and we hope you'll join us. For more information and to purchase tickets, click here.

Nineteen early childhood teachers, most of whom had viewed a bachelor's degree as out of reach, embarked on a journey this month. For the next several years they will be studying and learning as a group as they pursue their degrees from Rhode Island College.

They are part of a unique cohort developed by T.E.A.C.H. Early Childhood� RI and RIC's Feinstein School of Education. This program gives these child-care educators the chance to take their courses at night, in a supportive environment, and at a reduced cost.

The students in this cohort have all received T.E.A.C.H. scholarships, which cover 90 percent of their costs for tuition and books. Other T.E.A.C.H. benefits include paid release time and increased compensation.

Funds for these scholarships come largely through the Race to the Top/Early Learning Challenge grant that the state won last December. And because many of the courses in the cohort program will be held off campus at Ready to Learn Providence, RIC is able to offer a reduced tuition.

This week 18 four-year-olds began what is sure to be another happy and productive year in our Pre-kindergarten Classroom at CCRI, one of eight sites in the state's Pre-K Project.The children were chosen by lottery in August. To see more pictures, click here.

 

After three weeks of training in August, the 35 members of our 2012/2013 AmeriCorps team received their assignments for the year and began their work at early-care settings, pediatric clinics, libraries and the R2LP offices. They will be at these sites through June.

Before their training ended, Providence Mayor Angel Taveras invited the group to City Hall to discuss the city's efforts to increase the number of children reading at grade level by the third grade. See pictures.

 

Thanks to a one-year, no-cost extension of our Early Reading First program, we're able to continue providing courses and mentoring support to the teachers at the participating sites. We're starting a course on assessment this month.

The Heritage Park YMCA Child Care Center in Pawtucket is one of those sites. Meet some of the fine educators there in this story on our blog. Above: Heritage Park teacher Brenda Jamieson and assistant teacher Quintin Prout play word games with children on the playground.

 

The Rhode Island Department of Education has released a draft of new birth-to-five early learning and development standards.

You can comment on this draft at scheduled meetings or on a survey. Click here for information and to download the document.