Demonstration School
At United Way Miami, early childhood education is the foundation of everything we do. High-quality education in the earliest years of a child’s life plays a vital role in future success.
The Center for Excellence in Early Education (CFE) opened its doors in 2007, with the mission of elevating the quality of early education for all children in Miami-Dade and beyond. Our vision is that all children have access to the highest quality early care and education so they can have the best possible start in school and in life.
Curriculum key practices include:
- Meaningful Environments
- Continuity of Care
- Dual Language Learning
- Early Literacy
- Family Engagement
- Inquiry-Based Learning
- Scientific Mathematical Thinking
- Social Emotional Development
- Technology
- Wellness
- And more
Making the Case
We focus on the early years because we know that expanding and providing access to high-quality early care and education is among the smartest investments we can make. The first years in a child’s life – when most of their brain is forming – sets the foundation for success in school and in life. To thrive and become productive adults, all children need strong families, good health, quality learning opportunities and supportive communities.
Without a high-quality early childhood education, at-risk children are:
- 25% more likely to drop out of school
- 40% more likely to become a teen parent
- 50% more likely to be placed in special education
- 60% more likely to never attend college
- 70% more likely to be arrested for a violent crime
Our work is guided by the latest research showing that the earliest years of a child’s life set the foundation for a healthy and productive future.
With your support, we continue to make great strides in preparing young children for success in school and life.
Now Accepting Step-Up at Our Location
Demonstration School, Educare Miami
The United Way Center for Excellence in Early Education Demonstration School, Educare of Miami-Dade welcomes 116 children and their families. Children range in age from six weeks to five years old. Everything from curriculum to the 12,495-sq-ft high-tech facility is designed to stimulate young minds and deepen children’s investigation of the world around them, preparing them cognitively, physically and emotionally to enter school eager and ready to learn.
Essential Practices of Educare include:
Data Utilization
High Quality Teaching Practices
Job Embedded Professional Development
Intensive Family Engagement
School Tours
Our Demonstration School responds to children’s interests, nurtures concentration, creativity, and the motivation to independently learn and explore.
See the Center in action. The United Way Center for Excellence is located in downtown Miami. If you’re a prospective family, please contact us to schedule your tour.
To RSVP for this tour, please contact:
Iselda Rodriguez, center receptionist
305-631-7639 | [email protected]
Key Programs
Mixed Income Model
At the United Way Miami Center for Excellence demonstration school, a mixed-income model is implemented to create an inclusive and high-quality early childhood education environment. This model seamlessly integrates Head Start children and families, who receive subsidized enrollment based on eligibility criteria, with private-paying families who contribute to the center’s sustainability. All children, regardless of their payment status, benefit from a comprehensive curriculum, experienced teachers, nutritious meals, health screenings, and family support services. This approach fosters diversity, social-emotional development, and community engagement while ensuring equitable access to educational opportunities for every child.
Continuity of Care/ Primary Caregiver
Primary Caregiving is the practice where the care of each infant is assigned to one specific caregiver/teacher who is principally responsible for caring for that child in the Center as well as communicating with the child’s family. Through this practice the primary caregiver develops a strong relationship with the family and builds a child’s attachment to a familiar adult
The primary caregiver is responsible for observing, documenting, and planning for each child’s development process and learning, supporting transitions, and carrying out most of the child’s personal care routines.
With an emphasis on continuity of care, children enrolled in the Demonstration School are grouped utilizing the concept of “families”, where a child has the same group for his/her first three years of life, limiting the number of transitions a child goes through during this period. Each family moves together to the next classroom, from infants to a toddler 1 group (12 to 24 months old, then to a toddler 2 classroom (24 to 36 months old) and finally to a preschool classroom where they get a new group of teachers. This teaching practice serves to strengthen the relationship each child shares with staff members, families and other children in their own classroom. All of these relationships play a major role in children’s development in the early years as they interact with people in their life for a longer period of time.
Inquiry Based Learning
Visible Thinking is a broad and flexible framework for enriching classroom learning in the content areas and fostering children’s intellectual development at the same time. Here are some of its key goals:
Deeper understanding of content
- Greater motivation for learning
- Development of learners’ thinking and learning abilities.
- Development of learners’ attitudes toward thinking and learning and their alertness to opportunities for thinking and learning (the “dispositional” side of thinking).
- A shift in classroom culture toward a community of enthusiastically engaged thinkers and learners.
Toward achieving these goals, Visible Thinking involves several practices and resources. Teachers are invited to use with their children a number of “thinking routines” — simple protocols for exploring ideas — around whatever topics are important.
Early Literacy
Through a literary arts component, children learn how to communicate with the world around them. We know that early language and literacy development begins in the first three years and is closely linked to a child’s earliest experiences with books and stories. These experiences are the building blocks for language, reading and writing development. Research shows that children gain significant knowledge of language, reading and writing long before they enter school. An infant may regard a book through touch and, if he puts it in his mouth, through taste. A 2-year-old may handle a book differently, particularly those with flaps and moving parts. A 4-year-old might tell the story by looking at the pictures, and a 5-year-old is precise in her page-turning. At the Demonstration School, an emphasis is placed on exploring and playing with books, singing nursery rhymes, listening to stories, recognizing words, scribbling, and the art of storytelling, all of which are truly the building blocks for language and literacy development and communication.
Family Engagement
Family engagement is a key component of the Demonstration School’s work. The family engagement staff works with families to promote and enhance the family-child relationship. They also provide families with information about their child’s growth and development and provide them with the opportunity to gain strategies they can use to promote their child’s learning at home and in school.
All staff members are trained in Touchpoints, a framework developed by Dr. T. Berry Brazelton, which focuses on the family-child relationship and uses the knowledge families have on their child to best address his/her developmental needs.
- Families are an essential component of the school.
- Family engagement means that families take an active role in their child’s education, perspective and participation.
- Teachers work closely with Families, Family Engagement staff, Mentor teachers and Director.
- Invite families to be part of experiences occurring in the classroom.
- The teacher, parent and child as collaborators in the process of learning.
- The family works closely with the Family Engagement Staff.
Inclusion
At the demonstration school, inclusion is a core practice that embodies values, policies, and strategies ensuring the participation of every child and their family, irrespective of ability, in diverse activities and contexts as integral members of society.
The inclusive experiences sought for children, both with and without disabilities, prioritize a sense of belonging, positive social connections, and holistic development to realize their utmost potential. Key elements defining inclusion in this setting encompass accessibility, active participation, and tailored support systems.
Children eligible for services under IDEA have their IFSP or IEP reviewed by the Disabilities Coordinator, who collaborates with classroom teachers to adjust environments and teaching approaches accordingly. Ongoing monitoring and consultations by the Disabilities Specialist ensure individualized accommodations are effectively implemented, while fostering parental engagement and awareness through personalized consultations.
Health, Wellness & Nutrition
The Demonstration School menu meets dietary recommendations based on Dietary Reference Intake (DRI) by the Institute of Medicine and guidelines from the Child Care Food Program, USDA and Head Start. The menus take into consideration cultural preferences and special dietary requirements for each child with nutrition-related health problems. The quantities and types of foods served conform to recommend serving sizes by the USDA meal pattern.
Families have the opportunity to have their child screened for hearing and vision during the first 45 days of enrollment. The Demonstration School also provides various health and safety trainings throughout the year. A nutritionist consultant meets with families as needed and the family engagement team provides families information about resources in the community. United Way also promotes healthy eating by providing low-income families with access to a pantry that allows them to shop at no cost for food.
Meaningful Environments
Planning and arranging space is a key – but often overlooked – component of high-quality early education programs. The environment lets a child know they are safe, they belong, and they are valued. It drives their sense of self and development of identity. When setting up the classroom, teachers at the Demonstration School intentionally create environment that enables children to develop relationships with the world around them, themselves and each other. The Demonstration School program is based on the constructivism theory. This theory is based on the belief that children construct their knowledge by being exposed to experiences and provocations. A constructivist environment supports learning by allowing children to make choices and uses a wide variety of materials that provide an infinite number of possibilities.
Social Emotional Learning
We use different approaches and strategies to develop and promote social emotional skills. One being the Pyramid Model which is a tiered approach that allows us to adapt strategies for each child’s individual needs.
As children develop emotionally they become more aware of their feelings and needs as well as that of others. Children learn about self-awareness and how to self-regulate. Some strategies incorporated in the classroom to support social emotional development:
- Brain Games help children get better at: remembering directions, listening carefully, using self-control & thinking flexibly. These basic skills are foundational for: learning in school, getting along with others and coping with challenges.
- We chose to continue to enhance the concept of mindfulness in our school because we understand the benefits these will bring to our teachers, children and families. We hope that by following the mindful thinker’s strategies we can work on the concepts of mindfulness, executive function, attention, depression, stress and less negative behaviors. Teachers receive professional development on how they can develop mindful thinkers. The goal is for the teaching staff to receive resources around the area of mindfulness.
For young children, mindfulness begins as an embodied experience-an awareness of sensations in how their bodies, what their minds are doing, and what they are experiencing emotionally. We notice how our minds, hearts, and bodies feel when we stop, breathe, and just be in the moment.
Why is mindfulness Important?
When children are aware of what is happening inside of themselves, they are more able to focus and regulate their attention.
- Inner Explorer is a program made up of a series of daily 5-10-minute audio-guided mindfulness practices. The program focuses on key areas of development, bringing mindfulness to education and helping children prepare for learning. Daily practice teaches children the practical techniques to appropriately handle difficult emotions such as stress, anxiety, anger and more. The mindfulness practices focus on the following:
- Discovering Breathing and Relaxation Exercises
- Learning Awareness of Senses
- Using Thought and Emotional Regulation
- Developing Compassion and Connection
- Promoting Social Emotional Learning
STEAM
Science & Engineering:
Children develop their science knowledge through both formal and informal learning opportunities and those skills develop over time through sustained engagement with new ideas and concepts.
Science learning experiences based using the science framework that encourages children to think critically about a particular science concept for an extended period.
There are various science practices that children use repeatedly across content areas, such as observing, predicting, comparing, contrasting, and experimenting.
Providing opportunities to engage children in science exploration and discovery; that support children to practice inquiry skills through deep engagement with science concepts; by engaging children in life science, physical science, earth, space science, and engineering; and by incorporating mathematics and literacy as critical to the scientific work.
The garden in the Demonstration School’s backyard provides a living laboratory for children birth to 5 while serving as a demonstration model for early care and education professionals. It promotes nature as a context for learning and allows teachers to use the natural world as an educational tool by offering learning opportunities in science, math, ecology, biology, art and horticulture.
Technology:
At the Demonstration School technology is used as another medium to help children and teacher solve problem, communicate and research topics. Classrooms are equipped with technology that allows teaching staff to observe and document the learning process taking place. Teachers use cameras and iPads to photograph and record children learning experiences. Children use tools such as computer, touch screen devices, Mp3 players, digital camera, digital microscopes, and projectors to explore and gain deeper understanding of the world around them.
Families are encouraged to use the computers available in the family room to access emails sent to them by their child’s teachers or access other resources.
Mathematics:
Emphasizes the math concepts within and extended from children’s natural activity with engaging stories and activities.
Provide children experiences and interests with an emphasis on supporting mathematical thinking and reasoning. (Early Numeracy Skills). Thinking and Reasoning: Classification, Seriation Causality, Spatial relations, Representation, Number and quantity. Order (Sorting, sequencing, and patterns).
Dual Language
This vital aspect of the Demonstration School programming focuses on exposing children to a second language. Strategies are introduced to help families increase their understanding of the importance of communicating in the home language, while they support a child in the process of learning a second language. This practice focuses on the child’s capacity to learn multiple languages while providing training that is tailored to families and teachers on the language learning process.
Mentor Teachers (key roles)
Mentor teachers play a crucial role in the Demonstration School’s approach to ensuring instructional quality. They are former teachers who have deep expertise in early childhood instruction and who the Demonstration School has trained to work with teachers to improve their practice. Mentor teachers support teachers work with teachers in a continuous improvement cycle that includes four key components: They review child data, review and troubleshoot lesson plans, conduct observations, and provide individual coaching. First, the mentor teacher and teacher review child assessment data together to identify and categorize children’s needs. Then the teacher creates a set of weekly lesson plans, informed by those data and the curriculum rubrics. The mentor teacher reviews the lesson plans, provides feedback, and makes suggestions for improvement. At least once a week the Mentor teacher then observes the teacher implementing their lesson plans. And at the end of this cycle, mentor teachers conduct individualized coaching sessions with teachers. During these coaching sessions, Mentor teachers use curriculum rubrics to provide feedback on the teacher’s practice, and work with teachers to co-create individual development plans to support their instructional goals.
Data Utilization
We use data to make decisions. Data is any information collected in a relatively consistent manner. Data help us to think about program goals, create plans and thinking of continuous quality improvement.
Assessments: These are tools that give the teacher guidelines to show where the child stands in the process of their development. Assessment in an early childhood classroom is important because it drives the teacher’s lesson plans. A developmentally appropriate assessment includes observations of the child as he goes about his business.
Screenings Conducted: Early Childhood Screening involves testing children between the ages of infant and 5 in basic health and developmental areas including hearing, vision, coordination, speech, cognitive development, and social and emotional skills. The screening’s purpose is to identify health, developmental and/or other factors that may interfere with a child’s learning, growth and development.
