DFW News App

Children play in a sandbox in a pre-K class at J.T. Stevens Elementary School in Fort Worth on Feb. 8, 2023. (Cristian ArguetaSoto | Fort Worth Report photo)
” data-medium-file=”https://fortworthreport.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/CAS_JT_Stevens-27-scaled.jpg?fit=300%2C200&ssl=1″ data-large-file=”https://fortworthreport.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/CAS_JT_Stevens-27-scaled.jpg?fit=780%2C520&ssl=1″ tabindex=”0″ role=”button”>Arlington is taking steps to make early child care more accessible for low-income families, building new classrooms for up to 132 infants and toddlers up to 5 years old.The new child care facility will be located in central Arlington on North Fielder Road, and it will offer Early Head Start and Head Start programs — federally funded early childhood education services for low-income families. Services won’t be universally free, but the facility will offer scholarships for qualified parents.Child Care Associates, a Fort Worth-based early childhood education organization, will lease and operate the facility for a potential 30-year term. The building is anticipated to have a summer 2025 completion date. The organization believes early childhood education “sets the stage for lifelong learning and success,” said Willie Rankin, Child Care Associates’ director of the Institute to Advance Child Care. Each child care facility aims to create environments that prepare children both socially and academically, Rankin said. The $6.5 million project is part of a broader movement across Tarrant County to expand early childhood education services. It’s one of six in-the-works early child care facilities spurred by a partnership between local officials and Child Care Associates formed in 2022.By 2028, the six facilities plan to open 50 new classrooms across Tarrant County, with a combined capacity of 928 students each school year. Together, the providers will serve an estimated 5,540 children over the next 20 years, according to numbers presented to the Fort Worth City Council in April.To build the new facility in Arlington, Tarrant County is providing $4.7 million through unused local funds from the American Rescue Plan, a federal economic stimulus package passed in 2021. Arlington is footing the additional $1.75 million needed for construction through 2023 Community Development Block Grant funds, according to Arlington City Council documents.Arlington ISD’s pre-K initiativesIn 2023, Arlington ISD launched its own universal free pre-K for 4-year-olds with its “Full STEM Ahead” program, which emphasizes math, science and technology in its curriculum. Three-year-olds can take the district’s half-day pre-K free for qualifying low-income households.The district’s pilot group of pre-K students, who are now entering kindergarten, outperform non-pre-K enrolled students in reading by almost double, school board President Justin Chapa said at Arlington ISD’s State of the District in August. On state kindergarten readiness screeners, 64% of students who attended Arlington ISD’s pre-K program met or exceeded reading benchmarks, compared to 38% for those who did not attend the program, according to numbers presented at the address.“One of the most successful ways to increase student improvement for students who come from socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds is to expose them to a rich preschool program,” Chapa said at the address.Research on the effects of early childhood education supports Chapa’s sentiment. By the time a child turns 6, 90% of their brain is developed, according to the University of Nebraska’s Buffett Early Childhood Institute.High-quality, early child care programs put children in educational social settings during these foundational development years. It could stimulate their imaginations with books, friends and school supplies — things parents might not have the resources to provide at home, early child care advocates argue. Drew Shaw is a reporting fellow for the Arlington Report. Contact him at drew.shaw@fortworthreport.org or @shawlings601. At the Arlington Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here.