Pre-K students eligible for academic support and devices through Waterford Upstart
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Media Contact:
John McCann
Public Relations Manager
(919) 818-9510
johnmccann@waterford.org
Federal Dollars Providing PreK-Learning Program to Oklahoma 4-Year-Olds Children in Oklahoma have been using Waterford Upstart throughout the pandemic to prepare
for kindergarten.
Oklahoma City, OK (March 8, 2022) — State leaders and national PreK learning nonprofit Waterford.org are partnering to provide the research-based and third-party validated Waterford Upstart program to 700 children starting kindergarten in the fall of 2023. Federal dollars from the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) Fund allows the early literacy lessons to reach these young learners at no cost to their parents and caregivers.
“We have a saying in Okmulgee Public Schools — ‘Together We Rise.’ The ESSER funds are allowing us to do that. We’re taking those federal dollars and spending them wisely on a learning solution we’ve already seen help so many of our students begin kindergarten ready to learn,” Okmulgee Public Schools Superintendent Renee Dove said.
Some 2.2 million 4-year-olds in the United States annually have no access to publicly funded early education. Half of those children qualify for free and reduced-priced meals at school.
“We enter the situation with a platform built to achieve equity. Families will never spend even a single dollar on our program, thanks to our partnership with the state,” Waterford.org national spokesperson Kim Fischer said. “We remove money as a barrier to education, so families in Oklahoma are able to help their kids get ready for school.”
Waterford Upstart is an in-home, PreK learning program that prepares 4-year-olds for kindergarten by giving families the tools they need to become the first and most influential
teachers of their children. Those tools include a computer, internet access and phone calls from a coach offering tips to facilitate the academic instruction both online and offline. In 15 minutes a day, five days a week, the program provides positive parent-child interactions while delivering personalized, online instruction in reading. There is a math-and-science component to Waterford Upstart that families can take advantage of, if they choose.
On average, 92% of the children who participate in Waterford Upstart are ready for kindergarten — compared to a 65% average nationwide, 48% for children from low-income
households. Families with children entering kindergarten in the fall of 2023 may apply for the program at WaterfordUpstart.org.
https://www.waterford.org/upstart/
Waterford.org
Waterford.org is an early education nonprofit with a mission to achieve universal literacy for children through equity, access, and parent empowerment. Waterford develops educational tools that guide students along adaptive, individualized learning paths toward fluent reading and lifelong learning. We empower parents as a child’s first teacher, and we support teachers in taking the right actions at the right time for their students. In total, Waterford.org serves more than 300,000 children every year through all of our programs, and that number is continually growing.