The Rutgers Early Childhood Literacy Initiative is an effort to strengthen early childhood education and family literacy in Camden. The ECLI provides full-day preschool education from September to June for 90 three- and four-year old children in the city.
The Initiative is a partnership between the Rutgers CSUCL, the Children’s Literacy Initiative, and the Camden Board of Education’s Abbott Early Childhood Program; it operates through grants from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and the William Penn Foundation.
The program’s curriculum incorporates language, literacy, vocabulary, writing, nutrition, science, and math; it also offers multicultural learning and a dual-language element designed to promote diversity in the classroom.
The program works with our other Centers of Excellence to provide preschoolers with medical services and even begins their long journey to higher education with college awareness activities. The Initiative also partners with the CSUCL’s Rutgers Jumpstart program to improve preschoolers’ literacy and social skills for the transition into kindergarten.
LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT COMPONENT
The Early Childhood Literacy Initiative also includes a Leadership Development Component that combines theory and practice in order to transform parents and educators into change agents and improve literacy development at home and in the classroom. Each year the ECLI’s Leadership program operates in approximately 150 preschool classrooms in Camden and serves 2,100 children, 280 teachers and paraprofessionals, 80 directors and administrators, and 600 parents.
Administrator Component: Leadership Development and Capacity Building
The Administrator Component is designed to give childcare directors, family workers, supervisors, program specialists, and executive directors the training they need to developing leaders and build capacity within their own centers.
Teacher Component: Literacy Instruction and Training
The Teacher Component trains early childhood teachers and instructional staff with proven literacy instruction strategies that infuse literacy within the classroom. Training ensures that all staff develop competency in leading in the urban classrooms, work with literacy coaches to refine early literacy instruction and develop a variety of methods to communicate with parents.
Parent Component: Effective Literacy Outside the Classroom
The Parent Component develops the skills parents need to promote school success and childhood literacy at home by increasing school and civic engagement, teaching effective literacy practices, and distributing children’s books in English and Spanish to be read aloud to their child. Training sessions focus on literacy and writing development stages, communication, and parent advocacy within the Community.
CONTACT
Wanda Garcia, Associate Director, CSUCL
(856) 225-6903
wandag@camden.rutgers.edu
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