The early childhood education program in Allen Parish has received high marks from the Louisiana Department of Education.

According to Early Childhood Performance Profile scores, Allen Parish ranks seventh in the state with a 5.68 percent overall high proficiency performance rating.

Allen Parish has continued to see a steady growth each year since the state began reporting the performance of early childhood programs, according to the parish’s Early Childhood Education Supervisor Michelle Wagnon. The parish initially ranked at 26th in the state, working its way up to the Top 10.

“The performance profile shows that our early childhood programs are headed in the right direction,” Wagnon said. “This is how the quality of all our teachers and learning is measured in our pre-kindergarten programs, in our Head Start centers, and our early learning center in Oakdale.”

The parish’s early childhood networks consists of one child care center in Oakdale, three Head Start centers, and six public pre-kindergarten programs with a current total enrollment of 423 students with a wait list for the next school year.

“These scores tell me we are talking to kids like we should and giving kids the support they need,” she said. “And we are making sure that their brains are ready to learn and we are growing their brains with the instructional support that we are providing.”

Wagnon said collaborations between the Head Start centers, the Child Care, and adjusting pre-kindergarten schedules have helped improve the program across the parish.

“We do two hours of centers at the beginning of the day, which is right after they have had breakfast, so they are ready to learn and they are not just sitting for 30 minutes while we teach a lesson,” she said. “By the time we get to small group time, they are ready to learn.”

Student learning targets (SLTs) were also adjusted to focus on language and social and emotional growth, which is measured using the assessment tool Teaching Strategies GOLD.

Wagnon said the focus of the program is to make sure kids have a strong social, emotional foundation and the language that they need to grow.

“I want our students to be seen, heard, noticed, and loved,” she said. “We also want to help give parents the tools and support they need to help their children learn.”

The performance profile scores are based on classroom observations of teacher-student interactions in public school, Head Start centers, and licensed child care center in the parish. The scores also evaluate equitable access, classroom organization, emotional and behavioral support, instructional support, curriculum quality and certification and professional development of teachers.

The district received an excellent rating with an emotional support score of 6.34; 6.10 for classroom organization and 6.22 for emotional and behavioral support.

It earned a proficient rating in instructional support with a 4.60 score and 4.96 for engaged support for learning.

All teachers are degreed employees with 72 percent holding a bachelors degree, 12 percent with a masters and 12 percent having Child Development Associate credentials. Sixty-two percent of the teachers have earned certification in Louisiana.

Enrollment for the 2023-2024 is underway at Kids R Us and the Head Start centers. Appointments for registration are being taken now at all Allen Parish elementary schools. For more information, contact Wagnon at 337-639-4311.