As part of our efforts to create a cradle to college pipeline, we have partnered with Berry College and Rome City Schools to form the South Rome Early Learning Center. Many studies, such as one from The Annie E. Casey Foundation have indicated that children who do not read on grade level by third grade are four times more likely to dropout of high school. A disproportionate number of those children are from low-income families. We have two classes of underprivileged three-year-olds from South Rome and beyond. Our program, housed at Anna K. Davie Elementary School, is designed to improve vocabulary and other skills needed to put these children on a track to read at grade level by third grade.
