Program for at-risk kids gets a big boost

A full-day program aimed at boosting students' chances of succeeding in school is in the works in West Chicago.

Thanks to a kick start from a $3 million grant, Educare of West DuPage is setting its sights on building a new 30,000-square-foot facility to open in 2010.

The group would work with newborns to children five years old. Specifically, they're looking to help those who are most at risk of failing in school and trailing their peers when they enter kindergarten.

In many cases, that will mean working with children from households where families do not speak English and parents themselves are not educated, explained Theresa Hawley, Educare's project director.

"We want to take kids who are at risk and have them be as ready for school as your average American," she said.

The Educare model was developed by the Buffett Early Childhood Fund, which was established by billionaire Warren Buffett and his wife, Susan. Five existing programs are operating in the Midwest, including one in Chicago. Seven more programs are in the works.

What makes the West Chicago proposal unique is that it will be the first site based outside of an urban area.

That's where the Gustafson Family Foundation enters the picture. The Woodridge-based foundation decided to focus their largest donation ever on something that was child-centered and also highlighted the issue of suburban poverty, Hawley said.

"We know there's kids in need in our own backyard," she said. "They're the hidden poor, and we want to shine a light on them."

The Gustafson family will donate $2 million to help start the center and the Buffetts contributed $1 million. A consortium of groups launching the project are still working on the remaining $6 million needed for construction and start-up.

Hawley said the model is one that relies on high ratios of teachers to students and language-intensive study. It also will be a year-round, all-day program.

"There are lots of studies that indicate that beyond socioeconomic factors, what's even more important is the language that's directed at children," said Julie Carlsen, assistant grants coordinator for the DuPage Community Foundation. "Engaging them directly and using a wide variety of words is proving to be more powerful."

The foundation is working on the Educare project.

West Chicago District 33 and other groups now have half-day programs for pre-kindergarten students, but Educare will double the amount of assistance they receive.

There will be 150 kids in the full-day program, 34 in a part-time program and 40 in a home-based program designed to help them transition out of full-day studies.

Each class of seventeen students between the ages of 3 and 5 will have a teacher with a bachelor's degree, an assistant teacher and a teacher's aide.

The same teaching lineup will be available for each class of eight students 3 years old and younger.

"It's an intensive program," Hawley said.