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March 12, 2008 - Presentation School Foundation
joins with Little Sprouts, WGBH, and Wheelock College to
announce the launch of an innovative urban early education
initiative
BOSTON, March 12, 2008 --The
sounds of children learning and laughing once again will
fill the halls of the former Our Lady of the Presentation
School in Brighton.
At a Gala celebration to be held on Friday night, Mayor
Thomas M. Menino will join with leaders of the Presentation
School Foundation, Little Sprouts, WGBH and Wheelock College
to announce an innovative urban preschool partnership. Through
the initiative, the nationally recognized Little Sprouts
early education program will operate a preschool program
at the former school building, which the foundation is redeveloping
as a multi-purpose community center.
"This
urban early education initiative builds upon the wonderful
grass-roots efforts of the local community to support diverse
families in Allston-Brighton," said PSF President Tom O'Brien,
who noted that the program would serve more than 140 middle-
and low-income Boston children. "We are grateful that some
of Boston's leading educational organizations are working
with us to provide extraordinary educational opportunities
for local children."
Susan
Leger Ferraro, president of Little Sprouts, said, "The opportunity
to grow an exceptional early literacy program as an urban
lab school model with extraordinary teaching practices is
an idea whose time has come! We are honored to be part of
the PSF Allston/Brighton family community."
A key component of the center's preschool program will be
the introduction of multimedia curriculum materials developed
by Brighton-based public broadcasting leader WGBH. Designed
specifically for use in early childhood settings, the materials
include a classroom library of books, teachers guides, DVDs
and activities that use WGBH's award-winning television series Between
the Lions and Peep and the Big Wide World as
a launching point to teach young children reading skills
and basic science concepts.
Brigid
Sullivan, vice president for children's programming at WGBH,
said research has shown that these curriculum materials are
effective. A study of 11 American Indian Head Start programs,
for example, found that, after using the Between the
Lions classroom curriculum, the number of children
at risk for reading failure dropped from 39 percent to 12
percent.
"Education
is at the very heart of everything we do at WGBH. We
look forward to working with Little Sprouts and the Presentation
School Foundation to provide local children with a stimulating,
high-quality preschool learning experience," said Sullivan.
Supporting
the preschool program will be an extensive professional
development program. Created by WGBH in conjunction with
Wheelock College, the program will provide the center's teachers
with workshops, online courses, best-practice videos and
ongoing mentoring.
"Wheelock
College is very excited about this innovative literacy program," President
Jackie Jenkins-Scott said. "Our institutional mission is
to improve the lives of children and families and we are
proud to join WGBH and add to more than a century of leadership
in education and advocacy."
About The Presentation School Foundation, Inc.
The Presentation School Foundation, Inc. is a secular, nondenominational
501 (c) (3) corporation formed by local civic and business
leaders from different background and faiths who all share
the PSF mission: to provide educational and community services
that strengthen Boston's diverse Allston-Brighton neighborhood.
PSF purchased the former Our Lady of the Presentation (OLP)
grammar school from the Boston archdiocese and is converting
it into a community-based education center offering youth
and family services. Its anchor programming is a preschool
operated by Little Sprouts Child Enrichment Centers. www.psf-inc.org.
About Little Sprouts Child Enrichment Centers
Little
Sprouts Child Enrichment Centers has been a leader in providing
award-winning early education since 1982. It consists of
a group of humanitarians who believe in the power of literacy
to change the world. Little Sprouts believes in the commonality
in humanity. It embraces that unity is best achieved by
celebrating diversity. Little Sprouts has seven schools in
Massachusetts, supporting families who reflect 32 cultures
speaking 23 languages from all walks of social, economic,
religious and ethnic backgrounds. To learn more about how
you can join Little Sprouts in making the world a better
place, visit www.littlesprouts.com.
About WGBH
WGBH Boston is America's preeminent public broadcaster,
producing such celebrated national PBS series as Masterpiece
Theatre, Antiques Roadshow, Frontline, Nova, American Experience,
Arthur and more than a dozen other award-winning primetime,
lifestyle and children's series. Boston's last remaining
independent TV station, WGBH produces local TV productions
(among them, Greater Boston, Basic Black and Maria
Hinojosa One-on-One) that focus on the region's diverse
community, while WGBH 89.7 FM is Boston's NPR Arts & Culture
station, offering a rich menu of classical, jazz, blues,
news programming and more. WGBH is the leading producer of
online content for pbs.org--one of the most-visited dot-org
sites on the Internet--a major producer for public radio
and a pioneer in developing educational multimedia and
new technologies that make media accessible for people
with disabilities. For its efforts, WGBH has been recognized
with hundreds of honors, including Oscars, Emmys, Peabodys
and duPont-Columbia Journalism Awards. Visit WGBH on the
Web at www.wgbh.org.
About Wheelock College
Founded in 1888 and
located in Boston, MA, Wheelock College is a private institution
with the public mission of improving lives of children and
their families. The College fulfills this mission by providing
a strong education in the arts and sciences and in its professional
fields--education, child
and family studies, and social work--for which its undergraduate
and graduate programs are nationally and internationally
recognized. Throughout its academic programs and student
experience, the College reflects the multicultural dimensions
of the communities and countries in which it operates and
fosters diverse learning experiences--all of which contributes
to the success, leadership, and impact that its graduates
enjoy in a wide variety of careers. For more information,
visit www.wheelock.edu.
ARCHIVED PRESS RELEASES AND ANNOUNCEMENTS
- October 12, 2007: PSF to Make Major Announcement on Ownership and Future
Use of the Presentation School Building
- October 18, 2006: Media Alert
- April 21, 2006: News Release
- March 14, 2006: Letter to the
Community
- June 27, 2005: Joint Statement from
PSF and the Archdiocese of Boston
- June 16, 2005: Irish Wake to be held on June 18, 2005
- June 14, 2005: Joint Statement from
PSF and the Archdiocese of Boston
- June 10, 2005: PSF Chair to make statement on June 11, 2005
Archived News:
December 2005: The Boston Foundation has awarded
PSF a $25,000 grant to assist in the planning and development
of a community center at the former site of the Our Lady
of the Presentation School in Oak Square. The PSF appreciates
the assistance of the Boston Foundation and views the grant
as a further indication of the widespread support for the
PSF's vision for a community center that would serve the
pressing needs of working parents, children and immigrants
in the Allston-Brighton community.
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