• AVP-Students Home
• Message
• Student IDs
• Testing Centers
• Health Services
• Committees
• Forms
• Child Care

Student Services

Ready to Learn

Located at the CCRI Liston Campus in Providence

Students discover collaborative learning at Ready to Learn on the Liston Campus in Providence.

In October 2008, Ready to Learn Providence (R2LP) opened a preschool on the Liston Campus of the Community College of Rhode Island. In its first year, the classroom served up to 16 3- to 5-year-olds who no longer qualified for child-care subsidies because of the state’s new eligibility requirements. The program was funded through R2LP's U.S. Department of Education Early Reading First grant and was offered at no cost to families in Providence that qualified.

In the summer of 2009, the classroom was chosen as one of seven sites in the state’s Pre-Kindergarten Demonstration Project. The program, which is free, serves up to 18 four-year-olds from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Extended child care is provided, but parents are responsible for that cost.

The classroom is staffed by two experienced teachers and two R2LP AmeriCorps members. The program recently earned a four-star ranking from BrightStars, the state's new quality rating and improvement system.

“We’re very excited about being part of this pilot project,” says R2LP Director Leslie Gell. “Whether it’s through our many professional development programs for early-care providers already at work, or by participating in a program such as this, expanding access to high-quality child care is at the heart of everything we do. The research is clear that it makes an enormous difference not only when a child enters kindergarten but throughout his or her life.”

Read a Providence Journal article about R2LP published on Jan. 4, 2009.