Early Childhood (K-3)

ECE Overview

The Early Childhood Education (ECE) Program is a state-of-the-art, research-based program that is built on current research, methodologies, and best practices. It provides the foundation for a continuum of learning from Pre-Kindergarten to Grade 12 that is based on proven practices for the education of young learners. The ECE Department has an ongoing collaboration with the Reading and Multi-language Enrichment Departments to ensure that all students read on grade level or higher by the end of the third grade as required by the No Child Left Behind Act.

HIPPY

Home Instruction for the Parents of Pre-school Youngsters (HIPPY) is a home-based literacy program for the educational preparation and enrichment of preschool children ages 3, 4 and 5. The program promotes increased parental awareness of their strength and potential as their child’s first teacher. HIPPY is based on providing support in the home by trained paraprofessionals, who are also parents of young children and live in the community they serve. Small support group meetings serve as an additional resource for many of the families in the program.

Prekindergarten

Dallas ISD offers full day and half day prekindergarten for children who are four years of age. Full day prekindergarten, funded under the state’s Prekindergarten Expansion Grant, allows districts to provide full day instruction for eligible students. Dallas ISD’s prekindergarten programs are designed to develop skills necessary for success in the regular public school curriculum with a focus on pre-reading, language, and mathematics. Full day and half day prekindergartens include bilingual, ESL (English as a Second Language) and regular education classrooms. The Language Enrichment Activities Program (LEAP), with a focus on early language acquisition, is the foundation of the curriculum, with Building Language to Literacy as the ESL component and Scholastic Early Childhood Program as the State adoption. The district’s Early Childhood Department oversees the prekindergarten program and administers the Prekindergarten Expansion Grant. The district currently serves about 7,200 students in prekindergarten, 40% of whom are in full day programs.

TOP

Reading First

The two purposes of the Reading First grant are to ensure that each student is reading on or above grade level by the end of third grade, and to implement a comprehensive scientifically based reading research program with direct, explicit instruction that includes phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary development, and text comprehension – the five essential components of reading. Funding is targeted to provide professional development and technical assistance for implementing effective instructional strategies, materials and programs. In addition to training district staff and teachers on the most effective instructional methods, the grant also targets the implementation of a valid and reliable systematic assessment program that includes screening, diagnostic, progress monitoring, and outcome measures. Assessments are to be integrated into the instructional model in a way that informs teachers of their students’ progress and indicates where intervention is needed in order to reach the goal of reading fluently by the end of third grade.

TOP

Together We Succeed

The Together We Succeed Collaboration is a five year program, funded by the Communities Foundation of Texas that supports implementation of the Language Enrichment Activities Program (LEAP) in the East Dallas Head Start Center and four Dallas ISD elementary schools. LEAP was developed at Southern Methodist University and has served as the foundation for the prekindergarten curriculum in Dallas ISD and Dallas area Head Start Centers for several years. TWS serves prekindergarten students and their families, while strengthening the early childhood programs in the schools. The program provides additional training, support, and materials for teachers and assistants at the participating schools and centers, as well as parent training and support activities.

TOP