Education center for kids 3 and younger to open in Addison

"Early childhood education" has been a popular buzz phrase for several years, one that often refers to what many know as "preschool," or services for children ages 3 to 5.

Now educators are focused on giving their future students strong learning foundations at an even younger age.

This spring, 16 children ages 3 and younger living in Addison Elementary District 4 will be given an opportunity to get a head start on preschool and elementary school at a new Metropolitan Family Services facility opening at 121 E. Fullerton Ave.

The district has used the building only sparingly for professional development since buying it about 12 years ago. When Metropolitan Family Services suggested opening the center, the district jumped at the chance and signed a 25-year lease with the organization, charging rent of only $1 a year.

"It's a great public-private partnership," said Theresa Nihill, executive director of Metropolitan Family Services DuPage. "Everybody in Addison sees all of the children as their responsibility. It's been amazing to see how the community has embraced this."

District 4 Superintendent John Langton said the school board made it a priority to enhance the district's early childhood education about four years ago. Its approach was threefold: implement full-day kindergarten in all seven elementary schools, construct a new early learning center to serve 3- to 5-year-olds, and create stronger foundations with a program aimed at infants and toddlers.

The opening of the new center - which is pending state approval - will fulfill the third piece of that puzzle.

Metropolitan Family Services raised private funding to renovate the building and will receive federal money to pay for its daily operations.

"It's not a day care center," Langton said. "We know more and more of our kids come to us not knowing their numbers, not knowing colors, not having experiences engaging with other people. This facility, for some of our community's most at-risk kids, is going to be life-changing."

The center features play spaces, areas for caregiving, a large indoor space for children's motor skills development and an outdoor playground. It will maintain a high teacher-to-student ratio, with one bilingual teacher for every four students, and a maximum of eight children in a room.

There are two more rooms available in the building for when the organization is ready to expand, which will result in a maximum capacity of 32.

"The reality is we could fill six of these centers in this community alone, the money just isn't there," Langton said.

While much of the focus is on the child, the center also will work closely with families and set goals for parents, such as working toward a GED or enrolling in an ESL class.

"An important predictor of kids' success in school is how engaged parents are," Nihill said. "When you start that engagement when the kids are really little, I think what we see then is that school engagement goes on throughout a child's education years."