The 2015-16 school year marked the beginning of a partnership between Spring ISD and AVANCE-Houston, offering full-day pre-K Head Start classes to over 80 students at Lewis Elementary School.

The Head Start program serves children ages 3-5 and provides educational and developmental support for low-income children and parents, along with resources for nutrition and health, AVANCE Communication Specialist Lorely de Leon said.

“I think it was the perfect storm,” SISD Chief Academic Officer Lupita Hinojosa said. “AVANCE had been looking into our community to partner with the district, and at the same time we were looking for a partnership with Head Start in order to expand our pre-K programs.”

Founded in San Antonio, Texas in 1973, AVANCE—derived from the Spanish word for “progress”—is a nonprofit organization that provides resources for low-income parents and their children. It offers early childhood education and development programs for children as well as marriage, parenting and workforce programs for adults. AVANCE-Houston was formed in 1988.

Hinojosa said early child education is an important component of the district’s Every Child 2020 plan—a five-year plan designed to support students and improve performance. The plan’s goals include expanding pre-K offerings and maintaining a rigorous curriculum in those programs, she said.

Lewis Elementary School serves 685 students in pre-K to fifth grade, of which 83 pre-K students are enrolled in Head Start, she said.

A total of 1,570 students are enrolled in half-day pre-K programs at other elementary schools in the district. Lewis was the only school to offer full-day pre-K programs in the 2015-16 school year, which were possible because of the AVANCE partnership.

The school was chosen because it had classroom space available, is located near the AVANCE facility on Walter Road and had a population of students in need of the Head Start services, Hinojosa said.

“We would like to expand our services to the entire district,” de Leon said.

Five classrooms in the school are now Head Start classrooms, with three SISD teachers joined by two certified AVANCE teachers and two teacher assistants, de Leon said. AVANCE also supplies additional instructional materials, furnishings, equipment and access to health and medical services, including dental and eye exams, she said.

District Communications Director Karen Garrison said the partnership saves the district $103,000—the cost of starting salaries for two full-time teachers.

“If we were to go on this model on our own, we could not afford it as a district,” Hinojosa said.

With a limit of 20 students per classroom in pre-K, and five available classrooms, the program can serve a maximum of 100 students.

Students in the Head Start classes receive 435 minutes of instructional time each day, while half-day classes receive 180 minutes, Hinojosa said

“We are able at Lewis to dig deep in the area of science and social sciences,” she said.

Pre-K classes focus on early literacy and math, but Head Start students are able to spend some additional time in the arts and sciences.

“There is more time for the teachers to provide a well-rounded curriculum to educate the whole child,” Hinojosa said.