Governor Baker Announces Expansion of Preschool Programs Through Public/Community-Based Partnership Tours New Classroom in Holyoke
HOLYOKE – Governor Charlie Baker today visited the Lt. Clayre P. Sullivan School in Holyoke to tour one of the 45 new preschool classrooms that are opening this school year through the Massachusetts Preschool Expansion Grant program. Five cities received a combined total of over $14 million through a federal award to Massachusetts that is funding a year of high-quality preschool for 78 children in Holyoke and another 780 children across Boston, Lawrence, Lowell and Springfield.
“I am pleased to help welcome students to the new school year and highlight the expansion of the diverse early education and care system through this new pilot,” said Governor Charlie Baker. “This program will help identify best practices and inform us of ways we can pave a seamless path forward to connect local public schools with non-profit pre-school programs. The goal is to ensure that more children have access to the educational resources they need to put them on an early path to success, and achieve proficiency in reading by the end of the third grade.”
The five cities that are participating in the initiative have developed partnerships between their local public school district and community-based programs licensed by the Department of Early Education and Care, to expand the number of high-quality preschool classrooms serving 4-year-old children in their community. The preschool programs are free for children whose families meet income criteria. The Preschool Expansion Grant funds support high quality program offerings through required design elements such as:
• Inclusive full-day and full-year programming with low child-to-teacher ratios (10:1 or less);
• Workforce development supports for educators, including individualized growth plans, joint professional development between the school district and community early education programs, and coaching and mentoring; and
• Use of highly credentialed educators who are compensated at a rate comparable to public school district salaries.
"The Preschool Expansion Grant is supporting children's healthy development through an innovative, high-quality model of local partnerships," said Early Education and Care Commissioner Tom Weber. "Holyoke and the other communities are aligning programs and education systems, leveraging new and existing resources, and employing research-based strategies to provide more children with a high-quality pre-k experience that will serve as a cornerstone for success in school and life."
Through the Preschool Expansion Grant, Holyoke Public Schools partnered with Valley Opportunity Council and Holyoke-Chicopee-Springfield Head Start to open a new preschool classroom in four of their schools. These classes provide programming for the children from 8 to 10 hours per day.
"Students are the real beneficiaries of the collaboration that the Preschool Expansion Grant has fostered," said Massachusetts Elementary and Secondary Education Commissioner Mitchell D. Chester. "More high-quality preschools mean more students will be prepared for kindergarten, and that is particularly important in cities where families might not otherwise be able to access such opportunities."
Massachusetts applied for up to $60 million over four years under the federal Preschool Expansion Grant program, which is administered by the U.S. Department of Education, and received its full request for $15 million in the first year of the grant.
即將於9月28至29日在哈佛大學公衛學院舉行的第五屆中美健康峰會（U.S.-China
Health Summit），今年首度舉辦“青年創新競賽”，9月12日選出4隊優勝隊伍。
以可注射蛋白質來改善骨關節炎治療的繭（Cocoon）生物科技公司，幫助家庭從全球各地找到專家做個人化研究項目的“罕見基因學院（Rare
Genomics Institute）“，把智慧型手機變成精緻的，可評估慢性病及手術後傷口的遠距影像平台的”組織分析（Tissue
Analytics）“，具互動，學習能力，幫助患者改善聽力的”優音（uSound）“，在獲邀於當日展示的12隊中，贏得裁判青睞，將可在第五屆中美健康峰會的青年領導論壇中做展示。
裁判包括中國醫學院科學院北京協和醫院公共衛生學院院長劉遠立，比翼資本共同創辦人何淑圭，麻省總醫院助理先進科技資訊長Garry
Choy，Flare資本的Dan Gebremedhin，塔芙茨大學戈頓學院副院長Mark Ranalli，哈佛陳曾熙公衛學院創新及創業主任Richard Siegrist等人。
預定於9月28至29日舉行的第五屆中美健康峰會將以“醫療體系改革與科技創新“為主題，中國衛生及計劃生育委員會副主任孫志剛，哈佛公衛學院研究教授蕭慶倫，去年出版“中國能領導嗎（Can
China Lead）“一書的哈佛教授柯偉林等，已確定將作主題演講。會中將討論中國的全民醫保與改革，生物醫藥創新對未來的展望，醫療保健創新的垂直整合，中國衛生領域發展的新架構，醫學診療技術創新，癌症預防與治療創新等。青年健康領袖論壇部分，將邀請北極光創投創始人鄧峰。丁香園創始人李天天，愛康國賓董事長張黎剛，比翼醫療基金聯合創始人何淑圭，Flare資本合夥人Michael Greeley等人講談。
