The corridors of Columbus City Schools (CCS) echoed with the gleeful chatter of pre-kindergarten kids as over 2,200 students embarked on what can be one of the biggest adventures of their young lives, their first day of school. In a noteworthy expansion heralded by a levy promise, CCS unveiled six additional classrooms, paving the way for an extra 100 students to join the ranks of early education.
Amidst the morning buzz, optimistic about charting new educational territories, the CCS Early Childhood Education Program aims to set a robust academic foundation, focusing on numeracy and literacy. Columbus City Schools Superintendent/CEO Dr. Angela Chapman conveyed her enthusiasm in a statement acquired by CCS, "We are thrilled to expand our pre-kindergarten program, which is a critical investment in the future of our students and our community.” She added, “By increasing our capacity and providing more families with access to high-quality early education, we are ensuring that our youngest scholars are set up for success from day one.”
The district's proactive stride not only broadens its bandwidth for general, inclusive, and special needs education but also abolishes tuition barriers, promising a mosaic of learning environments tailored to every child's distinct needs. This latest enlargement of CCS's pre-K program is a strategic move to lay the groundwork for continued academic achievement.
The accolades for CCS don't stop there. With all its pre-k sites earning a five-star rating through the Step Up to Quality program, CCS is a testament to educational dedication. Dr. Terra Baker, the district's director of Early Childhood Education, highlighted the program's effectiveness, "I'm excited this year for the expansion of our new classrooms. There are 100 more students that we will be able to have kindergarten ready,” she told CCSOH.US. “We retain a good number of our pre-K students, and when they take the kindergarten readiness assessment, they always outperform the students who were not part of our program.”
As administrators, teachers, and student advocates rally behind the mission to provide exemplary early childhood education, it's a collective effort. This initiative isn't just about meeting the needs of today's toddlers. Still, it is also a strategic blueprint for the community's educational pathway, ensuring the future classes of 2038 and 2039 have the tools they need from the get-go.
