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Page 2 of 3 Guiding Principles Young Learners is committed to creating an outstanding learning environment resulting in skillful, knowledgeable, well-equipped students who will become successful members of society, enabling them to adapt to the cultural, intellectual, and social challenges in a changing world. We aspire to be the leader and integral part of a consortium within our community that meets that goal. To achieve that ambition, we will apply our collective energies, resources, and talents to all dimensions of the issues of providing high quality early childhood education and services to children and youth in Texas. Along with others, we will advocate for all of our children. We will reach out with a universal embrace to all parts of our community. We will work constantly to learn more about the evolving issue of early childhood education and we will not hesitate to attempt innovative solutions to this challenge. In the work for which we are directly responsible, we will: - Continue to build and establish the resources needed to educate the whole child;
- Create and maintain a unique, small community atmosphere that has been clinically proven to effectively educate children;
- Expand our capacity to provide consultation on our curriculum and educational approaches that make our services more readily accessible in all parts of the community;
- Take appropriate risks to test new ideas and approaches on at least a pilot basis; and
- Assure the continuity of our work by building an organization that is structured and funded to last.
We will aim towards partnering and maintaining child-friendly academic structures that will continue to meet the evolving programs of the schools, while always focusing on the needs of children first. To accomplish this task, we will: - Create a funding structure that will meet current and future capital needs; and
- Conduct continual needs assessments of the schools and partner agencies regarding physical space to meet their growth and budget projections.
As a leader in mobilizing the community on the task of responding effectively to the issues of high quality education services, we will: - Bring together a broad base of volunteer community leaders and make them an integral part of our work;
- Be a leader in the creation of collaborative partnerships among agencies;
- Create different types and levels of partnerships and affiliations to create the widest network practicable of individuals and organizations devoted to creating academic excellence;
- Learn from others and partner with others in such things as the creation of exceptional new curriculums, and effective teacher recruitment and retention, while adhering to a “best practices model”, and
- Serve as the place people in the community rely on for the most accurate and useful information on strategies for effective early childhood education and alternative education services.
We will work with others in creating a simplified and unified legislative front that collects and coordinates the development of model legislation that will lead to laws that: - Become involved with educating others throughout the state on what children need in educational programs;
- Empower children in the educational system; give them a voice and make sure they are heard;
- Encourage and support innovative legislation and statewide initiatives.
We will also establish our program as a viable research tool so that we can learn about what really works in the field of educating our youth. To do that, we will: - Aggressively seek grants and other research monies with which to expand our ability to learn, and as a result, provide leadership and instruction on the most effective approaches in educating the whole child;
- Draw on the assets created by the number of children we have served to develop a database that will provide a more reliable basis for research;
- Promote longitudinal studies and research and follow up with graduates;
- Make Young Learners a place known as welcoming the opportunity to serve as an incubator for innovative approaches in education; and
- Measure our success by the degree to which other educational institutions look to us as an organization that learns how to solve problems through disciplined and creative research.
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