Four Aldine Child Care Centers Complete Intensive College Bound from Birth Quality Improvement Program

HOUSTON (May 9, 2018) – Four child care centers in Houston’s Aldine neighborhood completed Collaborative for Children’s College Bound from Birth program and celebrated with a recognition ceremony in May. All Stars Daycare & Preschool, Alpha Academy 1, Alpha Academy 2, and Young and Gifted Learning Center are the four centers which completed the voluntary, three-year intensive quality improvement program.

Over the course of the three years, center directors and their classroom teachers received coaching, mentoring and professional development resulting in improved quality. Highlights of the program include:

• Center directors received more than 375 hours of coaching and mentoring, and more than 426 hours of professional development.
• All four center directors earned their National Director Credential through Aim4Excellence, an intensive nine-module, 144-hour credentialing program.
• Classroom teachers at the four centers received more than 1,304 hours of professional development, and more than 847 hours of on-site coaching and mentoring.
• Thirteen teachers earned their Child Development Associate (CDA) credential, an intensive and highly-regarded national credential for early childhood educators.
• Centers provided 19 parenting education sessions to families at the child care centers, and reached 369 families through family activity and resource nights.
• Each participating center opened a Parent Library on-site to make parent resources and books for parents and children available to families at the centers.

Program success is measured on nationally recognized rating scales, including the Program Administration Scale, the Infant/Toddler Environment Rating Scale and the Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale. The Aldine centers achieved remarkable improvement on all scales in just three years. All scores are out of a seven-point scale. Highlights include:

• Staff Orientation scores on the Program Administration Scale improved from 1.8 to 6.0.
• Staff Development scores on the Program Administration Scale improved from 3.5 to 5.0.
• Internal Communications scores on the Program Administration Scale improved from 1.0 to 4.25.
• Parental Involvement scores on the Program Administration Scale improved from 3.5 to 5.3.
• Infant/Toddler Environment Rating Scale averages improved from 3.4 to 5.4.
• Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale averages improved from 3.4 to 4.3.

At the recognition ceremony on May 5, Collaborative for Children vice president of programs Ray Mondragon offered his congratulations to the centers for their hard work and achievements. “Today we celebrate the commitment to high quality early childhood that is now the hallmark of each of these centers,” he said. “We celebrate the availability of quality care not only to the current families at these centers, but to future families in Aldine who deserve the very best in early childhood education for their children,” Mondragon said.

The College Bound from Birth program in Aldine was Collaborative for Children’s first replication of the project since its pilot effort in Sunnyside/South Park from 2008-2016. Incorporating learnings from the Sunnyside pilot, Collaborative for Children modified the program model from eight years to three and streamlined program components. Collaborative for Children currently operates the College Bound from Birth program in the three additional neighborhoods of Third Ward, Greater Northside, and Gulfton/Sharpstown, with plans to expand the program to more child care centers across Houston by 2020.

About Collaborative for Children

Founded in 1987, Collaborative for Children meaningfully improves the quality of early childhood education and care for Greater Houston’s children through those who are most influential in their lives. The agency works with child care providers and families to create high-quality learning environments, and advocates for policies which benefit the early learning landscape in Texas.