Sunflower County Pre-K Program

Sunflower-Humphreys Counties Progress, Inc. is the lead partner in the Sunflower County Early Learning Collaborative in providing Pre-K services to low income children in Sunflower County, Mississippi. Our collaborative was awarded $316,050 from the Mississippi Department of Education to serve 147 children, however, in order to operate Pre-K in our community, we need to match the state funding 50/50, which means that our match should be $316,050. As you may know, Pre-K helps ensure that Mississippi children start school ready to succeed. Too many of our children today start schyool without the skills they need. Nearly 20% of Mississippi school-age children repeat a grade and 32 percent don't graduate from high school on time or drop out. Pre-K can help ensure that our children start school ready to learn and help improve their performance in the early grades as foundational skills are built. Under the Early Learning Collaborative Act of 2013, the costs for providing Pre-Kindergarten services to four-year-old hcildren amount to $4,300 per child enrolled in full-day programs. The state of Mississippi provides half of these costs ($2,150 per child enrolled in full-day Pre-K). However, the state requires that the other half be provided by matching funds, which may be local tax dollars, federal dollars (as allowed), parent tuition, philanthropic contributions, or inkind donations or facilities, equipment, services required as part of the program, such as food service or health screenings. We are seeking your support in the amount of $316,050 to continue to provide quality services to our children in Sunflower County, MS for the 2015-2016 School Year.

2014-2015 was the first year of the Pre-K program in Sunflower County, Mississippi.

Below is the Comparative Report from Teaching Strategies Gold, which is the assessment tool for Creative Curriculum

Below is the MKAS2 Mississippi k-3 Assessment Support System (Star Early Literacy) This assessment gauges the Kindergarten Readiness Skills.

K-Readiness Score Summary Report:

Below is the Sites that houses the Pre-K program:

1. Inverness Elementary School - 1101 Oak Street, Inverness, MS

2. James E. Rosser Elementary School - 601 Ingram Street, Moorhead, MS

3. Ruleville Elementary School - 360 L.F. Packer Drive, Ruleville, MS

4. A.W. James Elementary School - 400 South Blvd, Drew, MS

5. La Donna's Lil Angels Learning Center - 181 W. Park Avenue, Drew, MS

6. Indianola Kids University - 307 Curtis Street, Indianola, MS

We anticipate a very exciting 2015-2016 school year. Please help us ensure that our children receive quality Pre-K experience as they make preparation to enter Kindergarten.