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Description
In this edition of CCSD Insights, News & Notes, we speak with the district's new Executive Director of Early Childhood School Readiness Programs, Kim Foxworth, about the creation of the Mary Ford Early Childhood and Family Engagement Center, and the district's approach to creating stronger Early Head Start, Head Start, and Pre-K programs throughout the county.
A
Hello,
everybody
I'm
Andy,
Pruitt
and
you're,
watching
the
newest
version
of
CCSD,
insights,
news
and
notes,
and
today
we're
talking
about
early
childhood
education
with
our
executive
director
of
early
childhood
school
readiness,
programs
kim
Foxworth
Kim.
There's
a
lot
of
exciting
things
happening
in
this
field
in
this
area
for
our
school
district,
but
just
to
kind
of
generally
talk
about
early
childhood
education.
A
B
Child
has
a
fundamental
part
of
a
person's
life
90%
of
a
child's
brain.
Your
brain,
our
brain,
is
formed
by
the
time
the
child
is
five
years
old.
Think
about
all
the
experiences
that
we
have
between
zero
and
five.
All
those
experiences
help
us
be
ready
to
learn
in
addition
to
experiences.
We
want
to
make
sure
by
the
time
they
enter
kindergarten.
Not
only
are
they
ready
to
learn,
they
want
to
learn
so
across
the
county.
You're,
going
to
see
early
childhood
teachers
having
fun
instilling
that
love
of
learning
and.
A
There's
major
initiatives
on
the
way
to
increase
what
we're
doing,
but
before
we
get
into
that,
I
want
to
give
a
little
background
about
you,
you're
new,
to
this
position,
not
new
to
Charleston
County
School
District.
So
can
you
kind
of
briefly
explain
some
of
the
work
you
go
I've
already
done
here
will
do,
but
also
some
of
the
other
work
you've
done
to
kind
of
set
you
up
for
where
you're
at
now
sure.
B
And
I
am
a
career
early
childhood
educator
currently,
as
you
said,
I'm
the
executive
director
of
school
readiness,
early
childhood
school
readiness
programs
here
in
Charleston
County,
and
in
that
role.
I
am
fortunate
to
be
able
to
leave
three
programs:
the
CD
4k
program,
Early
Head,
Start
and
Head
Start,
and
in
that
role
we're
all
working
together
to
make
sure
our
kids
enter
kindergarten
ready
to
go.
Also
I
have
the
fortunate
opportunity
to
work
with
all
the
departments
in
schools
to
make
sure
not
only
our
kids
ready
for
kindergarten
that
we're
ready
we're
meeting.
B
Our
students
are
meeting
the
first
grade,
readiness
standards
so
before
I
came
to
Charleston
County
I
had
the
opportunity
to
work
in
Charlotte
Mecklenburg
I
was
a
teacher.
I
was
an
early
childhood
educator,
leading
a
variety
of
early
childhood
initiatives
for
the
Charlotte
Mecklenburg
School
District.
In
addition,
I've
worked
in
the
Tri
County
as
a
director
of
education
for
tried
in
a
new
way
where
they're,
educate
in
programs
and
projects
were
all
focused
on
kindergarten
readiness.
So.
A
We
currently
offer
a
lot
of
educational
opportunities.
You
just
hinted
at
for
young
children,
early
headstart,
headstart,
pre-k
or
also
known
as
child
development,
but
efforts
are
in
place
now
to
basically
bolster
all
of
these
programs.
First
with
the
Mary
Ford
early
childhood
and
family
engagement
Center.
This
is
a
mission,
critical
action
item
that
was
passed
by
the
board
back
in
November.
What
will
be
different
about
this
program
when
it
opens
in
August
of
2020
compared
to
what
is
already
in
place
at
Mary,
Ford
and
across
the
district?
There's.
B
B
Also
on
that
campus
is
a
program
called
Child
and
Family
Development
Center,
and
that
house
is
our
Early
Head
Start
and
Head
Start
classrooms
in
August
of
2020
we're
going
to
bring
together
the
CD
4k
classrooms
from
shakoora
and
Mary
Ford,
along
with
bringing
all
the
Head
Start
and
Early
Head
Start
classrooms
that
are
at
the
former
CFTC
under
one
program,
we're
going
to
be
serving
children
0
through
kindergarten
under
one
roof,
and
it's
going
to
be
very
exciting
that
we're
going
to
all
be
able
to
focus
the
resources
on
that
age
group.
So.
A
B
So
first,
let's
talk
about
the
staffing
so
that
all
the
staff
is
gonna,
be
early
childhood
certified
we're
gonna,
have
teacher
assistants
in
every
room
and
our
support
staff
is
going
to
be
higher
or
selected,
so
they
provide
all
the
support
necessary
for
early
childhood
students
in
terms
of
our
curriculum.
We're
going
to
be
doing
a
comprehensive
curriculum
that
meets
the
needs
of
the
whole
child.
That
is
we're.
B
Gonna
have
some
curriculum
supplements
to
make
sure
that
the
numeracy
and
the
phonological
awareness
standards
are
taught,
but,
most
importantly,
we're
gonna
make
sure
it's
grounded
in
play,
because
research
tells
us
that
young
children
learn
best
through
Play.
You
know.
One
thing
we
want
to
talk
about
is
also
the
kind
of
physical
changes.
B
A
Also
touched
on
the
curriculum,
creative
curriculum,
the
most
current
version
is
going
to
be
in
place
at
Mary
Ford.
Can
you
go
into
more
detail
about
how
that
will
set
us
up
not
just
at
Mary
Ford,
but
as
we
move
forward
to
really
expand
these
early
childhood
learning
opportunities
across
the
district?
We're.
B
What
we
want
to
do
is
have
that,
but
also
make
sure
we're
providing
the
phonological
awareness
supports,
and
numeracy
supports
to
make
sure
our
kids
meet
those
first-grade
readiness
benchmarks
and
through
doing
this
implementation,
we're
also
going
to
touch
base
with
our
administrators
and
teachers
and
and
obviously
we're
going
to
be
looking
at
student
data
to
make
sure
that
this
curriculum
meets
the
needs
of
our
program.
This
will
help
us
decide
how
our
professional
development
will
roll
out
to
the
other
classrooms
across
the
district.
So
this.
A
B
Very
fortunate
to
be
able
to
have
a
lot
of
community
partners
in
the
mayor
for
succour
area
and
they're
all
helping
us
work,
we're
working
together
to
work
with
families
and
community
members
to
make
sure
that
what
happens
at
Mary
Ford
is
the
best
for
young
children.
We're
gonna
we're
not
gonna
have
to
worry
about,
like
other
schools,
things
that
need
to
do
for
4k
and
then
5th
grade.
B
A
Important
component
of
this
entire
initiative
is
accountability
and
it's
accountability
through
a
credit.
There
was
a
presentation
made
to
the
Board
of
Trustees
back
in
January
about
this
topic,
but
could
you
also
describe
why
it's
so
important
that
this
program
marry
for
it
receives
accreditation
so.
B
The
National
Association
for
the
education
of
young
children
NAEYC,
is
a
national
early
childhood
organization.
They
accredit
high
quality,
effective
early
childhood
programs
across
the
country
in
order
to
ensure
that
not
only
is
CCSD
meeting
local
and
state
standards,
but
national
standards.
We
were
going
to
pursue
that
NAEYC
accreditation.
Currently
we
have
one
NAEYC
accredited
site
and
that's
lower
Hill
Primary,
but
we
want
to
make
sure
that's
the
standard
that
we
have
at
all
of
our
sites
moving
forward.
So
we're
going
to
start
that
process
at
Mary.
For
now,.
A
We're
focusing
on
Mary
Ford,
but
really
the
creation
of
this
specific
early
childhood
and
family
engagement.
Center
is
the
foundation
for
something
bigger.
The
goal
is
to
have
more
centers
and
to
really
strengthen
and
bolster
the
entire
programming
when
it
comes
to
early
headstart,
head
start
and
child
development
in
the
district,
correct
right.
B
So
Mary
Ford
is
just
one
piece
of
a
comprehensive
redesign
that
we've
been
working
on
for
the
last
seven
or
eight
months.
So
it's
been
a
project
team
that
has
examined
the
current
practices
and
curricula
that
is
being
offered
in
our
current
early
childhood
classrooms.
To
make
sure
that
we're
doing
everything
is
put
in
place
to
make
sure
our
students
are
ready
for
first
grade.