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In 2002, business, civic and philanthropic leaders recognized a problem that they wanted to fix. Many of our region’s children were entering kindergarten not ready. The Hampton Roads Community Foundation created Smart Beginnings South Hampton Roads, a nonprofit that was tasked with raising awareness, advocating for public-private investment and improving the quality of programs. We […]

Dear Friends, Thank you for your unwavering support! It is because of you and your calls, letters and visits that the House of Delegates and the Virginia Senate have passed their respective budgets and both include funding for Governor Northam’s early education package. We are grateful that our policymakers are making young children a priority. […]

Dear Friend, Thanks to your support: HB 1012 (Bulova) and SB 578 (Howell) have passed their respective chambers by overwhelming margins. Your voice has made a difference! Now, the fight continues as we turn our attention to funding the comprehensive package for Virginia’s children. Click Here to Act Now: Tell your legislator to support the […]

What is VKRP? The Virginia Kindergarten Readiness Program is a kindergarten readiness assessment that includes literacy, math, social skills and self-regulation. It provides the most comprehensive data our state has ever collected around school readiness, success, growth and gaps. The program uses a set of coordinated assessments that place equal and purposeful emphasis on measuring […]

 Text VAEARLYED to 52886 to get updates and act now! Dear Friend, We need your urgent support. Recently released 2019 data from the Virginia Kindergarten Readiness Program found that 44% of all children in Virginia are entering kindergarten not ready in one or more areas ofliteracy, math, social skills, or self-regulation. Act Now: Tell your […]

Dear Friends: On behalf of E3: Elevate Early Education, we are thrilled to launch, Early Education Matters, a campaign and nonpartisan coalition to advance our legislative priorities for the 2020 session and beyond. Early Education Matters Access. Equity. Quality. Impact. Governor Northam, the First Lady and state agency leaders spent much of the last year talking with […]

What Does Quality in Early Education Look Like? Lots of books for infants, toddlers and preschoolers. Creative, free form art materials and activities available in the classroom for children to explore. Play. Play. Children laughing, pretending, imagining and interacting with their friends & teachers. A daily routine & activities that engage children in science, technology, […]

The Governor and First Lady announced a $94.8 million dollar budget package at the ACCA Child Development Center for early education, the largest ever investment in Virginia’s early childhood education system. Priority areas for the proposed funding include increased access, equity, quality and impact for young children. WE wanted you to hear it first from […]

Every year we turn away over 30 families who have applied for a scholarship to The New E3 School. These families desperately want to give their child the gift of a high-quality early education, but they cannot afford it. The achievement and readiness gaps begin as early as six months of age. The earlier children […]

I did not allow my children to use technology until they were three and four-years-old. It was not easy to make this decision as a parent, but because I read so much about brain development in young children, I knew that it would be best to wait.  There would be plenty of time down the […]

The Child Care Development Block Grant (CCDBG) is federal funding provided to the states aimed at expanding access to high quality child care for low income families.  In 2018 Congress increased discretionary funding for the CCDBG by over $2billion – the largest increase in years.  Child Trends provides an overview of how states are using the […]

A recent article in the New York Times entitled Taking Playtime Seriously and a 2018 American Academy of Pediatrics study remind us of the importance of play. Both the article and study emphasize playful learning as critically important for the developing child. Other countries like China and Finland are shifting away from over-testing, academic rankings and high-achievement to […]

Sixty years ago, The Perry Preschool Project aimed to study the lifetime impacts of high quality early education experiences.  The participants in the study were socioecomically and developmentally disadvantaged African American children.  The 123 participants were ages 3-4 and all had below average IQ scores. They were enrolled in a two-year high quality early learning program […]

  “…and so, I have to give you an official two weeks notice.” There it was; the culmination of a rocky few weeks at school for my daughter, Madison. I’d been pulled aside three separate times in the last two weeks by the school director. And now she was given two weeks to change her […]

Mindfulness is maintaining a moment-by-moment awareness of your thoughts, feelings and bodies. Research tells us that yoga practice in early childhood and elementary classrooms teaches children self-awareness, breathing techniques, how to deal with stress and mindfulness. The most recent research conducted in elementary schools found that students who were part of a 12-week practice 4x […]