On March 16
Porter-Leath will break ground on the new Early Childhood Academy in South Memphis. The 32,000 square foot facility will accommodate over 200 students, 16 classrooms and state-of-the art teaching academy. The project is expected to be complete in the spring of 2017.
The nonprofit has been serving the Memphis community for over 160 years providing resources for at-risk children and families
, through the mission of empowering children and families to achieve a healthy, optimal and independent lifestyle. They focus on the foundations of health
y development, offering access to the tools families need. The forth-coming Early Childhood Academy establishes a continuum of early childhood education, from prenatal to age 5, and creates a teachers training institute.
Porter-Leath has
13 facilities of their own already and serves over 5,800 students, ages 0-5, in Shelby County. Early childhood service has long been a part of their work, and with this new academy they can serve additional students in a high-need area.
"We do a community needs assessment and that survey identifies where the services need to be," explained Rob Hughes, Director of Development for Porter-Leath. "South Memphis is an area with lots of young families and is the best place for the Academy."
"Our big focus is on kindergarten readiness," said Hughes. "We are making sure that they are on pace with becoming kindergarten ready. We measure child progress for Early Head Start with
E-LAP (Early Learning Accomplishment Profile)
and LAP-3 for Head Start. They receive assessments throughout the year on the gross and fine motor skills, cognition, language, self-help and social/emotional."
In 2015, Porter-Leath's first year of operating Head Start county-wide, over 70% of students were Kindergarten ready, as measured by the i-Station assessment, up from less than 40% the year prior.
Above the curriculum, each child receives health, disability and nutrition services; in the first 45 days children go through a health assessment, plus dental and vision screenings.
In addition to teaching young children at the facility, Porter-Leath will also use the space to train effective early childhood educators. Auditorium style classes will be offered, and then teachers can apply those skills in the academy's actual classrooms and receive feedback. "We're going to make sure all early childhood educators in Shelby County receive the best training possible so that they can make the greatest difference in the classroom," Hughes said.
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