Frank Guzman, Board President; Richard Martinez, Superintendent; Lilia Fuentes, Assistant Superintendent, Educational Services; Eileen Carrillo-Lau, Director, Child Development; Marilyn Hokanson, Teacher Specialist, Child Development; Rhonda Miles-Brown, Resource Teacher, Child Development
Equity Begins with Infants harnesses the learning capacity of the district’s youngest students to launch an accelerated learning path available to every member of the Pomona USD community in English and Spanish for free. Using the Footsteps2Brilliance and Clever Kids University Early Learning apps. the initiative focuses on children ages birth to third grade to improve kindergarten readiness and third-grade reading proficiency. This enables PUSD to actively engage families before their children enroll in school, increase writing and reading rigor in K-3 classrooms, provides an easy, high-impact way for all community members to participate, and gives parents the tools to own their child’s success. Comprehension is now over 76 percent, with students showing significant improvement in almost every language skills category. Some pre-K classrooms are hitting 1 million words read. The program is supported through the Early Literacy Initiative which brings together representatives from all avenues of the community.