Higher Education Affiliate Partnership

The goal of this to build literacy, language, social, and initiative skills in young children. We do this by pairing motivated college students, called Corps members, with preschool children in caring and supportive one-to-one relationships for an entire school year. The model is designed to achieve three primary goals: School Success: The one-to-one relationships at the core of the Jumpstart model build literacy in combination with social and emotional readiness. Time and again, we’ve seen how consistent, committed, and caring relationships prepare children for school and help to create a lifelong love of learning. Family Involvement: Jumpstart's focuses on three areas of family involvement: building strong relationships, ongoing and consistent communication, and the Jumpstart-home learning connection. Jumpstart provides learning activities for the home, thereby reinforcing the learning that takes place during Jumpstart sessions. Future Teachers: By working with college students, we are also helping to create new generations that are not only excited about early childhood education, but also have developed the skills to make a difference. In partnership with Pearson, we’ve also started the Pearson Teacher Fellowship, which supports select college graduates teaching in low-income early education centers for two years. For eight-months each year, college student Corps members attend twice-weekly, two-hour Jumpstart sessions at a preschool. Each of these sessions consists of three elements: One-to-One Reading: Children choose books to read with their Corps member, and the Corps member uses the dialogic reading method. In this method, a natural rhythm is established promoting both reading and more in-depth discussion. Circle Time: In a large-group setting, Corps members lead children in activities that combine literacy, language and social interaction, such as singing, finger-plays, and movement games. During Circle Time, children are welcomed and made to feel like a part of the Jumpstart community. Choice Time: During this longest period of the Jumpstart session, children create a plan and choose where to play. Corps members guide children to develop and carry out their plans and to review it at the end of each session. During Choice Time, children may also participate in small group activities. These activities, which are planned by Corps members, provide opportunities to experiment and solve problems in ways that are meaningful to each preschool child. In addition to these Jumpstart sessions, Corps members also spend 2-5 hours per week in Classroom Assistance Time (CAT). During this time, Corps members provide support not only to their partner child, but also to the classroom teachers. CAT allows Jumpstart to reach more children than those who participate in one-to-one sessions, and also allows Corps members to gain valuable early childhood education experiences.