Dear Early Education Advocates,
Sadly, last fall, over 10,000 of our own children entered kindergarten behind their peers. Those children rarely catch up; instead, the achievement gap widens over time. Children who enter the K-12 system without being ready are more likely to fall behind grade level expectations, to be held back, to need special education and drop out of school.
Last year, you helped E3 move this issue in the right direction for kids by:
- Securing a state appropriation of $250k with a $2:$1 match in philanthropic investment to pilot a statewide comprehensive kindergarten assessment as part of Governor McDonnell’s K-12 education reform.
- Launching the first-in-the-state kindergarten assessment pilot in partnership with the University of Virginia which will produce a snapshot of children’s readiness by November 2014.
- Advocating for $2m for statewide implementation of kindergarten assessment in Governor McDonnell’s 2015-16 Budget based on E3’s pilot findings.
- Advocating for continued funding of The Virginia Early Childhood Foundation and local Smart Beginnings coalitions.
- Positioning early education as part of the campaign platform for the 2013 gubernatorial race.
- Elevating the issue to create a bipartisan effort that will utilize an analytical & data-driven approach to make strategic investments in early education.
E3’s Founding Chair, Gary McCollum
- Cultivating over 4,000 followers via social media to grow the early education movement.
- Publishing “What Parents Need to Know” and “The Faithful Beginnings Readiness Guide” to support parents as their child’s first and most important teacher.
- Securing $10m in philanthropic support for the creation of an innovative early education schoolthat proves high quality results in kindergarten readiness across the income spectrum. The new school will be a showroom of quality to serve as a catalyst to drive policy, systems change and greater public investment.
Without you, E3 would not have been successful in starting to change the way our state thinks, acts and prioritizes our youngest learners.
Your gift is extremely important to our issue advocacy work. All of Virginia’s children deserve a top notch education and that begins with high quality early education experiences and arming parents with information to be their child’s first and most important teacher.
Please consider making a generous charitable gift to put Virginia’s kids at the top of your list by clicking here. Your donation will have an impact on changing the lives of thousands of children.
Thank you for joining the movement!
Sincerely,
Lisa Howard
President & CEO