Early Childhood Development Programs

Studies have shown early childhood development has a tremendous influence on a child’s chance at academic success.  Housed in the Literacy Goal Office of the Louisiana Department of Education (LDOE), Louisiana’s Early Childhood Education programs are focused on ensuring our youngest learners enter Kindergarten ready to learn.

In fact, one of the state’s Nine Critical Goals is ensuring that all Louisiana’s children enter kindergarten ready to learn. And the attainment of this goal will significantly influence whether or not the other eight goals are achieved. 

With this impact in mind, LDOE and the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE) have recognized a need to clearly define and measure this objective.  Thus, working with school and district administrators, teachers, parents, early childhood specialists and other stakeholders, BESE and LDOE adopted a definition for Kindergarten Readiness, which outlines the skills and abilities a child should demonstrate to qualify as kindergarten ready.

EARLY CHILDHOOD OUTREACH/PROGRAMS

National statistics show that before starting Kindergarten the average child from a middle-class family has been read to for a total of 1,000 hours, compared to a child from a family living in poverty, which has only been read to for 25 hours.  Therefore, in Louisiana, where the percentage of students living in poverty is almost 67 percent, the books, ideas, and play afforded to children through Louisiana’s preschool programs are of immense value as they continue to learn and grow.

Accordingly, early childhood development programs are a priority for Louisiana,  The state is consistently ranked in the top for its funding of state-financed prekindergarten programs, per pupil expenditures on preschool programs, and enrollment in preschool programs, according to the National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER). In fact, more than 30 percent of the four-year-olds in the state participate in one of three state-funded preschool programs.

Louisiana is committed to offering universal access to preschool programs. In 2008, the state legislature voted to provide universal preschool access to all four-year-olds, regardless of income level, by 2013, provided that state funding is allocated for the program.

Currently, Louisiana serves four-year-olds through three programs: the Cecil J. Picard LA4 Early Childhood Program; the 8(g) Student Enhancement Block Grant Program and the Nonpublic Schools Early Childhood Development Program (NSECD).

Through these programs, Louisiana is providing educational resources and services to more than 41,000 at-risk preschoolers - an increase in enrollment of about 57 percent since 2000.