The Napa County Office of Education (NCOE) has been recognized for helping preschool children become better prepared for kindergarten through the use of technology.
NCOE received the Collaboration Nation Grand Prize, sponsored by technology company CDW-G and eSchool News, for its Early Digital Learning initiative, which seeks to boost preschool literacy through the use of tablets and reading apps.
The award comes with $50,000, which NCOE will use to purchase more technology and expand the digital learning program, according to Seana Wagner, NCOE’s public information officer and project development manager.
NCOE and the nonprofit NapaLearns have made it possible for more than 1,600 children in Napa County to use the Footsteps2Brilliance app on tablets and other devices. The technology exposes preschool children to libraries of books in either English or Spanish to help them increase their vocabulary before starting kindergarten.
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NCOE launched its Early Digital Learning program to help kids from low-income families who often lag “their more privileged peers on standardized language tests,” according to NCOE’s description of the program.
Napa County Superintendent of Schools Barbara Nemko said the program required bringing together Information Technology departments from across the county as well as collaborating with all five school districts to get it started and have it grow.
“We went from a small 17-student pilot in one district to more than 23 preschool classes and every primary class in the county,” said Nemko in a news release. “We also brought together our curriculum departments, so all teachers could get the same professional development. Four years later, we are seeing so many more second and third graders performing at grade level – that’s the beauty of collaboration.”