Archived Information

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# Double Oaks Program Ensures Bright Beginnings

This fall, for more than 400 wide-eyed and excited four-year-olds, the
Double Oaks Pre-Kindergarten and Family Resource Center in Charlotte,
North Carolina, will be their first introduction to school. Thanks to
the center's comprehensive and imaginative program, children who might
otherwise have started their school years behind their peers will be
ready to learn when they head for kindergarten next fall.

Double Oaks is the school district's largest center for its Bright
Beginnings initiative---a literacy-rich program for children with
identified educational needs. The program is the brainchild of
Superintendent Eric Smith, whose goal is to ensure that 85 percent of
students from all racial and economic backgrounds in
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools read at or above grade level by the third
grade. Double Oaks was the first of several centers to pilot the
program.

Now going into its fourth year, Bright Beginnings serves over 2,000
students in 25 locations. The Charlotte-Mecklenburg School District is
using a large majority of its Title I dollars---approximately 85 percent
or \$8.4 million---to fund Bright Beginnings. Smith's long-term goal,
however, is to serve about 4,000 children who may be eligible each year
for the program.

"From what research tells us about early learning and from what I have
seen of the need for intense remediation efforts, a better use of time
and dollars is being made through the implementation of this program,"
says Principal Cheryl Merritt, who had been an elementary school
principal for several years prior to coming to Double Oaks.

## Double the Support

Prior to August 1997, Double Oaks was a Community Resource Center
housing several community agencies that served the surrounding
neighborhoods. Among the school's strongest advocates was the chief
executive officer of the Bank of America. "Without Hugh McColl's support
and commitment, we would not have been able to make the dream of Double
Oaks a reality," said Smith. The school now functions as a family
resource center, offering services such as "Mother Read," teen mentoring
training, and nutrition classes.

The center operates up to 12 hours per day, from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. during
the week and until 4 p.m. on Saturday. Among the agencies housed at
Double Oaks is the Even Start/Family Independence Initiative, sponsored
by the Knight Foundation and Central Piedmont Community College, which
helps parents of children in the program complete a GED. "It just folds
us over into a school with an inclusive family approach," says Merritt
about the shared space.

The partners who help support the Double Oaks program also include local
business and community organizations, along with the faith community
(see sidebar for listing).

Located in what has been defined as the "inner-city," Double Oaks also
serves 80 Head Start students. Two-thirds of the center's students
receive either free or reduced-price lunch. Although Bright Beginnings
screens its applicants for academic needs and Head Start for economic
ones, Merritt says the partnership with Head Start pulls together
resources that extend the reach of the partnership to a larger
population of children.

## All in the Family 

The high level of parent and community involvement at Double Oaks, for
which it was recently recognized with a school district award,
contributes to the consistent progress of its children.

Parents must sign a contract---a unique and "non-negotiable" feature of
the program---in which they commit to maintaining the child's health,
ensuring his or her regular attendance, and participating regularly in
various events. A goal of the program is to have at least 85 percent of
parents attend four family involvement events each year.

In addition to the family resource center, partnership efforts such as
Project Uplift further supports parents by helping to prepare the
younger siblings of four-year-olds for the pre-kindergarten program.
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, in partnership with United Way's
Success-By-Six, pairs educators with parents who have children ages
birth through three years to provide home visitations.

## Literacy Circles

Children are the center of the Bright Beginnings curriculum, which
focuses strongly on language development and early literacy to foster
the skills needed for reading and understanding what is read.

Each day the children join in four "literacy circles" that each last 10
to 20 minutes, in addition to participating in learning centers and
small group activities that include drama, writing, computers, science
and art.

There is a teacher and a teaching assistant for every 19 students,
compared to the ratio of 2 to 23 for most pre-kindergarten programs in
the district. Teachers working in the Bright Beginnings program are
early childhood specialists who have at least a bachelor's degree and
are certified by the state, or are provisionally certified as they
complete additional courses.

## Bright Endings

Research shows that the 1997-98 class performed consistently better on
the end-of-year kindergarten assessment than did a comparable group of
children who did not participate in Bright Beginnings.

"When you work with young children, there's that window of opportunity,"
says Merritt about the importance of early childhood intervention.
"There's that zest and enthusiasm for school. There is that feeling that
'I can do everything'---and they can. And if I start out and feel like I
can do everything, I can experience some success."

For more information about the Bright Beginnings program, visit the
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools' Web site at www.cms.k12.nc.us/ or contact
Barbara Pellin, assistant superintendent for Student, Family and
Community Services, at 704-343-6256.

## A Bright Beginning 

When U.S. Secretary of Education Richard W. Riley visited Double Oaks
last year during his America Goes Back to School tour, Frazier Lee
Brown, Jr. from the Bright Beginnings class of 1998-99 made a
presentation to the secretary. Recognized for his progress in reading
and writing, Frazier was offered as a great example of the program's
success. This fall the six-year-old will enter the first grade.

"Last year in school he had a good year because he had been around kids,
learning how to listen to the teacher and how to follow directions,"
said Jean Cherry about her grandson's performance in kindergarten. "His
reading has come up real good. He does good with numbers. I'm just a
proud grandmother.

"I thank God for Double Oaks, Ms. Cheryl and all the teachers
there---they are wonderful with the kids. I can't begin to tell you how
much I thank God, because they gave Frazier a first start.

"If he hadn't been in the program, it would have been hard on me," says
Cherry, who works the night shift at the Frito Lay plant in Charlotte,
North Carolina, "and the teachers too because he wouldn't have been
adjusted. But he was adjusted when he went to kindergarten because he
knew what to look forward to."

## Community Partners

Contributions from the Bank of America helped to renovate the facility;
employees serve as readers and lunch buddies in classrooms.

Behavioral Health of Mecklenburg County provides family services
information, family/child intake services and assessment, and staff
consultation.

Charlotte Speech and Hearing and United Way help place a certified
speech/language pathologist in the classroom and train the entire staff.

A Child's Place provides outreach services to families in crisis and
homeless children, through the services of a family advocate housed at
Double Oaks.

Employees of First Union's Read Aloud Program volunteer in classrooms by
reading to students and donating books.

Head Start provides a teacher's assistant and supports 80 students at
Double Oaks.

Mecklenburg County Health Department provides screening and health
services.

Myers Park Methodist Church donates funds for the Learning Gallery and
supplies trained volunteers to teach literacy lessons at Double Oaks.

Smart Start funds the distribution of the Bright Beginnings curriculum
to private day-care sites.

St. Gabriel's Catholic Church donates funds for the Learning Gallery at
Double Oaks.

United Way funds a parent educator to work in the homes of families
served at Double Oaks.