Creating Early Learning Opportunities for Children in a Promise Zone: The Action for Early Learning Partnership Approach

• In Event: 56.081 - Roundtable Session 24
  In Roundtable Session: 56.081-18 - School-University-Community Partnerships: Enhancing Community

Abstract

The Promise Zone’s Action for Early Learning Initiative (AFEL) is a school-university-community partnership. AFEL strives to translate research on early childhood education into rich early learning opportunities for children in a neighborhood adjacent to a large, urban university in the Northeastern US. AFEL supports local childcare centers with coaching and others resources and recruits community members to act as family ambassadors for quality early care and education in the Promise Zone. This study presents data from the first two years of this embryonic partnership, highlighting the ways in which the quality of early care and education in the community has improved and uncovering the challenges related to the partnership and the change process that accompany its efforts.

Authors

• Mary Jean DeCarlo, Drexel University

• Adena M. Klem, Self-employed

• Maria J Walker, Drexel University