Shannon Mason

St. Mary’s Early Childhood Center is a not-for-profit agency that offers two early childhood initiatives to positively impact the futures of young children: The Preschool Program and The Educational Outreach Program. St. Mary’s Preschool Program provides the highest quality early childhood experience for 144 three-five year old children attending our schools. 93% of our children live in poverty. We have built in support for children and families through our social services, food services and public school therapies. Our Preschool Program is accredited by the National Association for the Education of Young Children and a level 4 center on Indiana’s Paths to Quality rating system which is the highest level attainable. We provide a low adult to child ratio (1:7) to ensure that we can focus on the social and emotional, as well as cognitive and physical, development of the children. The program serves the following diverse group of children annually in Marion County between our three facilities (9230 Hawkins Rd, 901 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. St. and 349 N Warman Ave.): 50% boys 50% girls 13% Caucasian 42% African-American 38% Hispanic 1% Asian 6% Biracial St. Mary’s Educational Outreach Program provides teacher training to early childhood educators, focusing on teachers who work with poor children. St. Mary’s has been positioned carefully to provide teacher training about best practices and the Reggio approach. We offer seminars, internships, consulting, study tours and a coaching model for more intensive professional development. St. Mary’s educators also present at state level conferences regularly. The staff at St. Mary’s is qualified and has studied the Reggio approach around the world as wells as has been approved for site visits by American educators.