Lowndes County Schools see impact of Early Learning Collaborative

LOWNDES COUNTY, Miss. (WCBI) – Lowndes County Schools are celebrating 10 years of the Early Learning Collaborative program and the success that the program has brought.

In 2013, Lowndes County Schools got the opportunity to bring the Early Learning Collaborative to their Schools.

10 years later they are seeing the long-term impact this program has on students.

Federal Programs Director, Dr. Kristie Jones said the earlier you invest in your children, the greater the payoffs can be.

“We are investing in that three to four-year-old age group in order to impact that early childhood program to make sure they are all high quality. Making sure that across our state our students have access to affordable high quality early childhood programs because what we know and what the research says is that when you invest in early childhood you are investing in lifelong learners and you are investing in lifelong success because we know other students who are attending high-quality education programs they are more likely to graduate they are less likely to repeat grades they are more likely to have better behavior and better attendance within our schools,” said Jones.

This early learning collaborative shows through their character but it is also having an impact on students’ test scores each year.

“What our state has seen throughout is an upward progression in reading. Our state has increased in reading. We’ve closed reading gaps throughout the state and we can contribute a lot of that success to the contribution and investment to early childhood education,” said Jones.

And more importantly, they are getting to have fun as they learn their way to success.

“It’s a beginning. It sets that foundation for learning and fun learning. They are four-year-olds so we have a lot of fun but we are having fun as we learn,” said Jones.

If you are interested in signing your child up, The Lowndes County School District is taking applications until March 3.

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