Evergreen Childrens Association, 114 NE 54th St, Seattle, WA 98105, US

La Escuelita Bilingual School was established in 1979, and is designed to meet the needs of a very diverse community that values quality instruction, cultural relevancy, and the acquisition of a second language. The curriculum has evolved throughout the last three decades and is used as a model for other schools and educational institutions. We provide a dual language (English & Spanish), early child care environment with a bilingual, bicultural curriculum that fosters the holistic development of each child within the context of each child's home culture and language. Our goal is to promote the development of each child's appreciation of themselves as individuals, and their competence in all of the learning domains (physical, cognitive, social-emotional, and creative). We assist children in recognizing the many ways in which they are the same and different from each other. We aim to incorporate the child's interest, cultural context and events that make up their lives, into their daily activities, in order to foster children's learning and critical thinking. We assist children in developing the skills and attitudes needed to become successful in an academic setting. We promote the development of English and Spanish language skills using a Dual Language Instructional Model. We also validate and assist children to develop respect and appreciation for all of the languages and cultures represented in our programs. La Escuelita Bilingual School strives to develop a collaborative working relationship with parents. We recognize that parents are the first and primary educators of young children. We are aware that there are culturally specific child rearing practices that are of critical importance in the development of each child. We establish partnerships with parents and are committed to a continuous dialogue that informs our practices. We have established ourselves over the 30 years as an advocate for bilingual, bicultural teachers. We value the professional development of early childhood educators and are committed to the development of fully bilingual, bicultural, and bi-literate teachers. We promote the development of teachers with excellent problem solving and collaborative leadership skills. We encourage staff to become advocates for children and families. More importantly, we strive to assist teachers in becoming agents of social change. La Escuelita Bilingual School's quality of instruction and child care is rooted in the years of experience of our directors and teachers, our innovative curriculum implementation, high scores in the assessment of students, high scores in the evaluation of our teachers and management, and low turnover in teachers and support staff.