When teachers in Ascension Parish said their pre-K curriculum was falling short, administrators listened — and found something that changed everything.
Nestled between Baton Rouge and New Orleans along the Mississippi River, Ascension Parish School Board is one of Louisiana’s fastest-growing and most family-centered school districts. With deep roots in civic engagement and a strong tradition of public education, the community expects, and deserves, the best for its children. That expectation is exactly what pushed the district’s early childhood team to take a hard look at what was happening in their pre-K classrooms.
The Problem: Good Teachers, Wrong Tools
When the district surveyed its teaching staff, the feedback was clear: the existing curriculum wasn’t cutting it. Teachers reported that their framework didn’t fully align with kindergarten readiness standards, forcing them to spend precious instructional time searching for and creating their own supplemental materials. The district’s goal shifted to finding one comprehensive, evidence-based curriculum that teachers could trust and allowed students to thrive.
Ascension Parish’s early childhood supervisor traveled to Washington, D.C., to observe Every Child Ready (ECR) in action at the AppleTree Institute’s Spring Valley campus. There she saw deeply engaged students, structured yet joyful classrooms, and rich academic content. This was what Ascension Parish needed, the decision was easy.
Teachers are happy. Students are happy. Engagement and learning are ignited and validated by strong data results.
— Ascension Parish Early Childhood Supervisor
A Data-Driven Rollout
Rather than adopting ECR district-wide overnight, the team launched a focused pilot program with a small cohort of teachers, closely monitoring outcomes before expanding. The results were compelling enough that the district is now in its second year of piloting with a larger group—and the data keeps getting stronger.
Higher CLASS Scores
Teachers saw measurable gains in Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS) evaluations, reflecting stronger teacher-student interactions.
Fewer Behavior Challenges
Teachers reported a noticeable reduction in challenging behaviors, with classrooms feeling more emotionally safe and organized than before.
Acadience’s Preschool Early Literacy Indicators (PELI) Screener Gains
ECR students substantially outperformed peers on end-of-year early literacy assessments compared to classrooms using the prior Tier 1 curriculum.
Multilingual Learner Growth
Multilingual learners showed tremendous growth through the language-rich experiences woven throughout the ECR framework.
What Changed in the Classroom
Ask any ECR teacher in the Ascension Parish pilot program what changed, and they’ll tell you: the joy came back. The curriculum’s play-based, child-centered design replaced heavily scripted lessons with flexible, responsive instruction. Teachers can follow student interests, differentiate naturally through small-group work, and build genuine relationships with their students through hands-on exploration and purposeful conversation.
Perhaps most tellingly, the curriculum transformed something as simple as center time. Under the previous framework, many learning centers sat underused because students weren’t interested. With ECR, students actively choose their centers and engage deeply, learning through play in the truest sense of the phrase.
“This is the first year, in many years, where I have enjoyed teaching pre-K. ECR has helped bring the ‘joy and play’ back into my classroom. I love having autonomy over my classroom versus teaching a heavily scripted lesson that my students did not enjoy nor could relate to. The behaviors are the total opposite of last year.”
— Ascension Parish Pre-K Teacher, Pilot Year 1
“My EL students have grown TREMENDOUSLY, just through the language opportunities provided through this curriculum. Since starting in August, I received my highest CLASS score since I started teaching three years ago.”
— Ascension Parish Pre-K Teacher, Pilot Year 1
“I really like how much data I’m able to collect. With our other curriculum, there really wasn’t any built-in data collection. ECR gives you much more structure and information to work with.”
— Ascension Parish Pre-K Teacher, Pilot Year 1
Teachers’ Favorite Features
When the pilot program’s teachers reflect on their favorite parts of ECR, a few components stand out consistently: Learning Lab, Flexible Small Groups, and weekly Centers. The flexible small-group format makes differentiation easy with multiple lesson options for each skill, enabling teachers to meet every child exactly where they are. And weekly centers, once a source of stress and extra planning, have become a highlight of the week.
“While it can be a lot of prep for ECR Centers, they are so engaging and my students love them. My students were actually learning while playing!”
— Katie Mullins, Ascension Parish Pre-K Teacher
Families Are Noticing, Too
The positive changes haven’t gone unnoticed at home. Families of pre-K students report that their children are more enthusiastic about going to school, communicating more confidently, and showing greater independence. Parents especially appreciate how ECR creates natural opportunities to extend learning beyond the classroom walls.
A Message to Other School Leaders
For school leaders considering ECR, the Ascension Parish team has one clear message: this curriculum delivers what early childhood education has long needed. It bridges modern instructional demands with the foundational, developmentally appropriate practices that experienced pre-K educators know work. It doesn’t just support students, it reignites the passion of the teachers who serve them.
“ECR is not just an instructional tool, it is a catalyst that elevates classroom culture and delivers the comprehensive support today’s students and teachers deserve.”
Ascension Parish is currently in its second pilot year with Every Child Ready, with plans to expand as the curriculum works toward Tier 1 status in Louisiana.
Every Child Ready
A comprehensive, research-based curriculum for PreK classrooms.
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Building Little Mathematicians: Early Math & Play-Based Learning in PreK