Early Childhood Education
Building a Solid Foundation for Your Child's Success
Many problems affect Tulsa's youngest and poorest children and the need for high-quality early childhood education programs is substantial. According to the Community Profile 2007 for Tulsa County, 40.5% of children under the age of five in Tulsa County live in low-income families and 18.9% of children under the age of five live below the federal poverty level. Approximately 76% of children in low-income, working parent households rely on outside care which creates a major need for early childhood education services. Recent studies show that children enrolled in high quality early childhood education programs do better in school and are happier and more successful later in life.
CAP's Head Start, Early Head Start and State of Oklahoma Pilot Early Childhood Programs help children from birth-age 5 develop the emotional, cognitive, physical and social skills that lead to life-long learning.
As the primary designated Head Start agency for Tulsa County since 1998, CAP's Head Start, Early Head Start and State of Oklahoma Pilot Early Childhood programs help children from birth to age 5 develop the emotional, cognitive, physical and social skills that lead to life-long learning.
CAP partners with Family & Children's Services (F&CS) to provide family support, parent education, case management, crisis intervention, and family counseling services. We collaborate with Tulsa Public Schools (TPS) to provide education to three- and four-year-olds with special needs. Several of our early childhood education centers are co-located with either TPS or Union Public Schools elementary schools so that we can provide a smooth transition between preschool and elementary school, ensure continuity of care, and encourage healthy habits of parental engagement with their child's educational system. CAP collaborates with Union Public Schools to offer home-based Early Head Start services in addition to the center-based services that we provide. CAP also collaborates with the University of Oklahoma (OU) Bedlam Clinic to meet the healthcare needs of enrolled children, their parents, and siblings. In total, our program has collaborative agreements with more than 20 different partners and providers of various supportive services.
CAP's Early Childhood Education program stands out in its commitment to placing high-quality, college educated teachers in the classroom. Each of our classrooms has a lead teacher who holds a Bachelor's degree. Our teachers are supported by highly skilled and experienced mentors, or Master Teachers, who provide hands-on training and support in matters involving classroom management, helping the teachers to translate skills learned in college into best practices in the classroom.
Our program has been identified by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services as one of the most innovative in the country. The majority of our early childhood education centers have achieved the highest level of national recognition for providing quality programs – accreditation from the National Association for Education of the Young Child (NAEYC).
