Children in Alabama now have a new option to prepare for kindergarten with Waterford Upstart

(Montgomery, AL) March 2, 2021 – Families in Alabama now have a new option to prepare their children for kindergarten at home and at no cost. Thanks to generous donations made through the TED Organization, Waterford.org is bringing the Waterford Upstart program to Alabama.

Each year, 2.2 million four-year-old children in the United States do not have access to publicly funded early education, and more than half are low-income children with no early education options at all. Waterford is one of eight nonprofit organizations in the world named a 2019 TED Audacious Project. As a part of this recognition, the organization was tasked with reaching more four-year-olds in need, including 200 children in Alabama.

Waterford Upstart is an in-home, early education program that prepares four-year-old children for kindergarten. Families are given the tools they need to be their child’s first and most influential teachers, including a computer and internet at no cost. The program provides positive parent-child interactions while delivering personalized, online instruction 15 minutes a day, 5 days a week. Families are also given support through a family coach as well as tips to continue engaging their children offline. On average, 92% of children who participate in Waterford Upstart are ready for kindergarten—compared to a 65% average nationwide and 48% for low-income children.

“When a child begins school behind his or her peers, it’s very hard to catch up. In the midst of a once-in-a-lifetime pandemic, an at-home solution like Waterford Upstart has proven to be not only effective in educating our youngest learners, but also a necessity for many families,” said Claudia Miner, Waterford Upstart executive director and cofounder. “With Waterford Upstart, Alabama families don’t have to worry about the learning loss associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. They can feel confident their children will walk into their first day of kindergarten prepared and ready to learn.”

You can now apply for Waterford Upstart, but spots are limited and restrictions apply. Children must enter kindergarten in fall 2022. Families can register right now for this at-home, no-cost project by visiting WaterfordUpstart.org.

Waterford.org

Waterford.org is an early education nonprofit with a mission to achieve universal literacy for children through equity, access, and parent empowerment. Waterford develops educational tools that guide students along adaptive, individualized learning paths toward fluent reading and lifelong learning. We empower parents as a child’s first teacher, and we support teachers in taking the right actions at the right time for their students. In total, Waterford.org serves more than 300,000 children every year through all of our programs, and that number is continually growing.

Waterford Upstart

Waterford Upstart helps four-year-old children prepare for school at home and at no cost. Children develop foundational reading and social-emotional skills, and families are empowered to become their child’s first and most influential teachers. The children use adaptive software just 15 minutes a day, five days a week in the year before they start school. Waterford Upstart also fuels family involvement in their child’s early education through family coaches and fun educational activities parents can complete with their children offline. Waterford Upstart has been rigorously tested and proven, earning the program a federal EIR grant and the title of a TED Audacious project. Independent research shows the average Waterford Upstart graduate enters kindergarten reading at nearly a first-grade level and maintains those gains through the fourth grade.