AppleTree Institute

Jack-o-Lantern

AppleTree Early Learning Public Charter School (AELPCS) is a public charter school authorized by the District of Columbia Public Charter School Board.

Learning to Read

AppleTree Early Learning Public Charter School (AELPCS) is a public charter school authorized by the District of Columbia Public Charter School Board.

Dig the Hole

AppleTree Early Learning Public Charter School (AELPCS) is a public charter school authorized by the District of Columbia Public Charter School Board.

Miss Annamarie Reads to Students

Lead Teacher and RTI Coordinator Annamarie Gugliotta reads to students at AppleTree Early Learning Public Charter School's campus in Columbia Heights, Washington, DC.

Putting the “Quality” into Quality Pre-K

Early education is the subject of unprecedented bipartisan interest from both Capitol Hill and the Obama administration. Advocates herald the lifetime savings of effective Pre-K interventions, which have been calculated between $7 and $10 for every dollar invested. But what does “quality” mean in terms of closing the achievement gap? And what are the implications for policy?

AppleTree Institute for Education Innovation’s D.C. Partnership for Early Literacy is an Early Reading First project that supports evidence-based, high-quality early literacy instruction in 28 preschool classrooms at 3 public charter schools educating a diverse, primarily low SES population of 3- and 4-year-old children. These data-driven preschools share six quality indicators to create engaging, nurturing early education settings that are dramatically raising the trajectory of learning for children at risk of school failure.

Craig Ramey, a nationally recognized early childhood education research expert, Mary Anne Lesiak, AppleTree’s Director of Education and a panel of experienced early education practitioners from schools participating in AppleTree’s D.C. Partnership for Early Literacy report on which child outcomes really count toward quality; how to embed professional development into Pre-K; what quality Pre-K programs can and should measure; and how districts, schools and classrooms can use data to close the achievement gap before children enter kindergarten.