The final impact report on a five-year early childhood education and literacy initiative in Springfield has been published by the Darr Family Foundation.
The multi-faceted initiative, Steps to Excellence, a project of Community Partnership of the Ozarks, focused on addressing red flag issues in the city regarding kindergarten readiness and achievement and opportunity gaps among pre-k and elementary students.
The initiative had 57 preschools participate in one or more interventions, provided 272 preschool scholarships and implemented social-emotional assessments in 23 Springfield Public School locations. Students at Ozarks Technical Community College, Missouri State University and Drury University received training in strategies of the program.
Heather Zoromski, executive director of the Darr Family Foundation, said they experienced some pandemic-related challenges. But there were several key accomplishments.
"We felt good about the strides that were made and the outcomes that we did have," she said. "You know, we didn't have the gains that we had hoped to see in kindergarten readiness and literacy, but we also didn't have a large decline, which was — we're going to count that as a success right now as well. We had a great decrease in suspension rates, which was really neat to see, increase in MAP [Missouri Assessment Program] scores at Pipkin Middle School. We saw program replication in communities all across southwest Missouri."
Some other accomplishments, she said, included the establishment of the statewide initiative Missouri Supporting Early Childhood Administrators and the establishment of the Early Learning Leadership Academy, a professional development cohort for preschool leadership.
The project was funded through a $1.1 million grant to CPO by the Darr Family Foundation, in partnership with the Jeannette L. Musgrave Foundation and the Community Foundation of the Ozarks.
