Foundations are Important
If a child has the benefit of a high-quality education from birth to third grade, that child will be set on a pathway to success in school and adult life.
The Dunbar Learning Complex is part of Atlanta's Mechanicsville neighborhood, where many hard-working, low-income families live, work and play. The Dunbar Learning Complex occupies the same city block as a park, a new pool, playground and athletic fields in an effort to provide area children with high-quality educational and living opportunities. The learning complex is part of a comprehensive community change effort underway in Atlanta's Neighborhood Planning Unit V with support from the Annie E. Casey Foundation's Atlanta Civic Site. Since 2001, Casey has utilized research and data-informed best practices to improve outcomes for vulnerable children and families in this area by focusing on three interconnected results: education achievement, family economic success, and neighborhood transformation.
If a child has the benefit of a high-quality education from birth to third grade, that child will be set on a pathway to success in school and adult life.
The Early Learning and Literacy Resource Center (ELLRC) has been selected to become an Educare center -- an elite network of some of the highest-performing early learning centers serving children at risk of academic failure.
Dunbar Learning Complex achieves success through evidence based practices and programs, taking a "two-generation approach," constant evaluation, being considerate of the community, and a focus on child health and well-being.
In 2010, the percentage of children who were below the 30th percentile on the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT) dropped by 23%, while the number of children scoring above the 50th percentile increased by 12%.
The Infant and Toddler Classrooms scored 5.9 on a scale of 7 in an evaluation of classroom quality -- above the 2011 Educare average (5.3) and the standard of high quality (5.0) and double the score of a representative sample of licensed Georgia child care centers (2.7).
97% of the children enrolled in Healthy Beginnings are up-to-date on their immunizations. 99% of children in Healthy Beginnings have a primary care physician. 80% of children in the Infant, Toddler, and Preschool classes that met or exceeded expectations in their learning objectives.
Only 47% of kindergarten students who had not attended the ELLRC were reading at or above grade level, while 63% of ELLRC graduates were reading at or above grade level. Enrollment at Dunbar elementary has increased by 55% since 2010-2011
First grade students enrolled in the Dunbar Learning Academy increased their reading proficiency in the "Success for All" assessment by 20%
In Atlanta, children and their parents are benefiting from an innovative learning complex that provides high-quality education to children from six weeks of age through fifth grade, ensuring that every child is healthy and ready for school by age 5 and reading to learn by age 8.
