This post was originally published on Atlanta Voice
By Madeline Thigpen
National educational nonprofit Jumpstart is using its Georgia division to address the need for language and literacy support in Atlanta’s low-income communities.
Jumpstart Atlanta has, for the past 15 years, partnered with early childhood learning centers to place trained college students in preschool classrooms.
“What the research shows is that when children actually start education early, they enter school prepared and that sets them on a trajectory of success.”
-ESHÉ COLLINS, SENIOR DIRECTOR OF PROGRAMS AT JUMPSTART
“That provides more of the direct one-on-one contact with children that may be struggling in different areas,” said Eshé Collins, Senior Director of Programs at Jumpstart.
According to data provided by Jumpstart, 97 percent of all their students come from low-income households. Collins said this is important, because oftentimes, children from affluent families enter kindergarten at more advanced reading levels than their lower-income peers.