Wednesday, December 31, 2003
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Wednesday, December 31, 2003 |
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Smart Start Georgia grants $2,750 to Fayette teachers Smart Start Georgia recently granted seven eligible early childhood teachers, directors and family child care providers in Fayette County with grants of $2,750 through its Incentives program, to help foster quality early learning for children within the community. Statewide, 2,040 early learning professionals in 124 Georgia counties collectively received nearly $1 million dollars from Smart Start. In addition, 288 Incentives recipients are at Head Start centers and 726 Incentives recipients are at Office of School Readiness centers. Through its Incentives program, Smart Start Georgia rewards early care and education professionals for continuing their work in their current setting and increasing their levels of education. By supplementing teachers’ salaries, the program encourages those who work directly with young children to stay in the field and continue to gain knowledge and refine their skills. “Smart Start Georgia strives to foster quality early learning experiences so that each child in Georgia is ready to succeed by the time he or she enters kindergarten,” said Sharen Hausmann, director of Smart Start Georgia. “Smart Start Georgia encourages early learning providers to achieve higher levels of education, which in turn helps our children achieve future successes in life.” Since its inception in April 2001, Incentives has distributed nearly $3.5 million to more than 2,000 recipients in 124 Georgia counties. “Research shows that children who experience quality early learning are less likely to drop out of school, repeat grades, need special education, or get into future trouble with the law than similar children who did not have such exposure,” said Marsha Moore, executive director of Georgia's Office of School Readiness. “Initiatives such as Smart Start Georgia’s ‘Incentives’ program help promote the high-quality, stable learning environments needed for children to succeed later in life.” According to the National Association for the Education of Young Children, those who experience high-quality, stable child care engage in more complex play, demonstrate more secure attachments to adults and other children, and score higher on the measures of thinking ability and language development.
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