Educationworks At Edward Gideon

The mission of the Office of Early Childhood Education is to provide high quality, comprehensive, developmentally appropriate programs and services for children from birth to age six and their families. The focus and purpose of our work is to ensure that every child in Philadelphia is safe, healthy, and arrives at school ready to learn and succeed. Our guiding principles are systemic in approach, grounded in research, and are characterized by significant levels of parent involvement and community support. The Office of Early Childhood Education looks forward to the time when all Philadelphia children from birth to age six and their families receive the health, education, and social services and support needed for healthy development and educational success. The scope of this vision requires the Office of Early Childhood Education to increase and maintain its authentic, working partnerships within the School District of Philadelphia as well as among state and city government agencies, businesses, non-profit institutions, community organizations, and parents. As we work together rather than separately, we will be able to identify and prioritize a shared definition of the needs of Philadelphia’s families and young children. We then can proceed to systematically plan and implement programs that most effectively use human, financial, and programmatic resources to meet these needs. This united community, civic and social context sets the optimum conditions for providing high quality, comprehensive, developmentally appropriate programs and services to all of Philadelphia’s young children and their families.