At the beginning of the school day at AppleTree Public Charter School’s campus in the Columbia Heights neighborhood of Washington, the twenty students in Monique Twyman’s preschool class are fully engaged and paying attention. Ms. Twyman leads the students in reviewing letter sounds and informs them of the day’s activities, which include exploring dinosaur "fossils" in a sand table, playing with classroom toys, working with clay, or stamping paper with the letter E. The students will also participate in individual assessments throughout the day to monitor their progress in literacy and math skills.
AppleTree’s program, known as Every Child Ready, is funded by a $5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education. The organization aims to meet the needs of its primarily minority and low-income students by providing early-learning academic content, professional development for teachers, and student-progress monitoring. With the grant, AppleTree plans to create a curriculum that can be used by preschools throughout the country and conduct research to evaluate the program’s effectiveness.
As the federal government shows interest in expanding high-quality preschool programs, AppleTree’s program is expected to receive increased attention. In the District of Columbia, where free preschool is provided for 3- and 4-year-olds, AppleTree’s campuses are already in high demand. The Every Child Ready program is also used in classrooms run by other charter providers in the district, reaching approximately 1,000 young children.
AppleTree Institute, which was established in 1995 as a charter school incubator, supports efforts to give children a strong academic foundation before middle and high school. In 2005, the first AppleTree EarlyLearning Public Charter School opened, focusing solely on preschool education. The school initially used multiple learning programs but eventually developed its own comprehensive curriculum to address gaps in existing programs.
By taking a comprehensive approach to early education, AppleTree aims to provide high-quality instruction to students who have the greatest need for support. The curriculum is evidence-based, child-centered, and aligned with the Common Core State Standards. The organization believes that investing in early childhood education is crucial for improving long-term educational outcomes.
And the intentional focus on foundational skills before formal education is especially crucial for children whose backgrounds may not have adequately prepared them for the academic and social demands of elementary school, she explained. "It takes more than just providing good care to expand a child’s vocabulary," Ms. Lesiak stated. Preschool programs, like AppleTree, only have two years to introduce these concepts, and some programs that start at age 4 have even less time.
The explicit instruction also extends to social and emotional learning. AppleTree aims to equip children with emotional tools they can utilize to navigate challenges in a school environment. For example, teaching them techniques to calm down, such as taking three deep breaths, rather than reacting impulsively.
W. Steven Barnett, the director of the National Institute for Early Education Research at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, N.J., emphasized the significance of including language and literacy skills, social and emotional learning, and an introduction to science and math skills in a strong preschool program. These are all areas that Every Child Ready claims to support. However, it is crucial that these curricula are implemented effectively.
Mr. Barnett pointed out that in many programs, a significant amount of time is allocated to non-academic activities, such as lunch, playtime without teacher engagement, transitions between activities, and naps. He emphasized that if half of the time is spent on these activities, children do not learn much.
Sense of Urgency
AppleTree recognizes the urgency in addressing the preacademic skills gap of their students, who often lag behind their peers. "The role of early childhood education has evolved in the past decade or so," Ms. Lesiak noted. "Our goal is to ensure that our children surpass expectations." While the academic program is the most tangible aspect of Every Child Ready, AppleTree is also developing online professional development modules and offering individual coaching to classroom teachers. "We want to provide teachers with guidance on what to teach, how to teach it, and how to enhance their effectiveness," Mr. McCarthy explained.
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