SAN JOSE, Calif. – In a display of public/private partnership and a commitment to improving the quality of early education, child development and family engagement, Educare of California at Silicon Valley will break ground June 5 on California’s first Educare School located on the campus of the Santee Elementary School and in the heart San Jose’s Franklin-McKinley Children’s Initiative.
Educare of California at Silicon Valley will serve as the region and state’s leading professional development and research institute, training early childhood education professionals in scientifically proven best practices in an effort to improve the quality of care and instruction in sites beyond the walls of the school, including K-12. The school is scheduled to open in August 2015.
“The groundbreaking for this Educare represents an exciting moment of progress for all of us who care about improving the quality of children’s learning and health during their earliest years,” said Carol Larson, President and CEO of the David and Lucile Packard Foundation. “The Packard Foundation is proud of our long history in investing in children’s learning and health, and Educare’s proven approach to early education is a great example of the continued commitment to children into the future by our foundation and a wide array of partners.”
The 28,000-square-foot Educare School and institute will directly serve 168 low-income young children and their families with a research-based program proven to prepare children for kindergarten. To impact practice beyond the walls of the school, a signature component of Educare is its Professional Development Institute, a center that will provide high-quality training to early education providers (public and private sector) and to K-8 teachers from throughout the Bay Area and northern California in the latest science and evidence-based teaching methods. The institute will partner with the region’s schools, colleges and universities to ensure that educators bring robust teaching practices back to their schools and classrooms.
Educare of California at Silicon Valley, a 501(c)3 organization, was formed by a robust partnership among the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, FIRST 5 Santa Clara County, Franklin-McKinley School District, East Side Union High School District, Santa Clara County Office of Education, Health Trust, Silicon Valley Leadership Group and the national Educare Learning Network. Additional partners and funders include the Heising-Simons Foundation, the Buffett Early Childhood Fund, the Ounce of Prevention Fund, FIRST 5 California, the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Opportunity Fund, AT&T and US Bank. Collectively, these partners raised more than $14 million for the construction of the school and institute.
For more information about Educare’s launch in California and Silicon Valley, or to learn more about the network of schools, please visit www.educareSV.org and www.educareschools.org.
Learn more about the Early Learning subprogram.
