Who We Are
We are leaders in Minnesota’s business, nonprofit and academic sectors who are committed to early education approaches that are proven to be effective and efficient.
We are "honest brokers" in the early education debate. That is, we don’t have allegiances to primary interest groups in the debate, such as political parties, politicians, teacher unions, child care providers, public school districts, or any single type of child care model (i.e. center-based vs. school-based vs. home-based vs. nonprofit-based). As a result, we stay focused on what will help the most at-risk children escape the achievement gap, not what will benefit adult-focused interests.
We are reformers who believe Minnesota must streamline its existing system to the benefit of both children and taxpayers.
We are strong supporters of the Minnesota Model for Early Learning, which was developed and proven effective with private funding between 2006 and 2011 by the Minnesota Early Learning Foundation (MELF), and expanded between 2012 and 2016 by the now-sunsetted nonprofit Parent Aware for School Readiness (PASR). The Minnesota Model entails:
- Early Education Scholarships to help low-income children access high quality early education programs beginning as early as needed; and
- The Parent Aware Ratings, which a) help programs of all types and sizes adopt kindergarten-readiness best practices and b) help parents find those high quality programs, such as by searching online at www.parentaware.org.