The Early Learning Foundation is dedicated to helping schools and parents give every child an opportunity to achieve early learning success, which lays the foundation for success in life.

Few things are so important to the future of our children and our society.  Children who come to school without important language, literacy, numeracy, motor, and behavior skills are at a disadvantage for success in the first years of school. Children who have not developed solid skills by the end of the third grade are at a disadvantage for life.

In 2001, Bob Sornson founded the Early Learning Foundation.  Its mission is to help children build the foundation learning and behavioral skills which are essential to long-term academic, social, and economic success.

The Early Learning Foundation focuses on supporting optimal development of children from birth through grade three.  Working with schools, community agencies, and parent organizations, the foundation provides training and consultation along with learning materials to help schools, communities, and parents give their kids the skills and knowledge to become great learners and citizens.

Among its many activities, the Early Learning Foundation works with:

Preschools and K-3: The foundation trains staff to use a competency based learning model which emphasizes personalized learning pathways to help students develop proficiency for every essential skill and behavior.  We offer a license to use the Essential Skill Inventories as a framework to use systematic formative assessment as children develop the foundation skills needed for success.

Training on the development of behavior, self-regulation, numeracy, sensory-motor skill development, oral language, literacy, phonologic and other key skill areas are available to school and community organizations.

Parent Education:  Projects include long-term parent education series which are described as transformational. Using a four or five part training sequence allows parents to learn, practice, and develop new patterns of behavior in the home.  Single topics trainings are also available.

Community Organizations and Planning: Training and consultation is available to communities interested in developing comprehensive planning to support high-quality early childhood learning, parent education, building community networks of support for young families, considering the needs of single-parent families, and supporting high-quality health care for young children.

This may be the most exciting time ever to be an educator or parent devoted to early learning success.  It has never been as important that children have a successful and joyful early learning experience.  And we have the knowledge from learning science and neuroscience to help far more kids become successful learners for life.

There was a time when someone with a strong back or good work ethic could be successful without on-going or advanced learning.  That time is passed.  By working together, we can create schools, homes, and communities that help every child fall in love with learning.