Early Childhood At IRE

We are so excited to bring together our early childhood learning options for children, families and staff. In the fall of 2020 we will continue with our developmental preschool programs.  We’re adding a partnership with the Opportunity Council who will host two preschool programs. Our EEK (Early Entrance Kindergarten) program is being revised and we will now have a full day, full year Transitional Kindergarten.  The importance of early childhood is widely known and the benefits to the students, families and our community are significant.

Based on the Washington State Early Learning Plan, the following benefits result from high quality early childhood programs:

For every dollar invested in the early learning programs returned between $3 and $17 in benefits. These benefits include:
-Lower costs for special education;
-Reduced need to repeat grades in school, lowering school costs;
-Lower costs for child welfare;
-Lower costs for public health and social welfare from teen pregnancy;
-Reduced juvenile and, later, adult crime, lowering criminal justice costs; and
-Increased tax revenue from successful students’ increased earnings as adults (RAND Corporation, 2008).