Skip to main content
Add as a preferred source on Google

Florida School District Provides Free Online Kindergarten-Readiness Program

  • By Yvonne Marquez
  • 05/26/20

About 500 Pre-K students in Escambia County will have access to a free online summer education program designed to help children make up for lost learning due to the coronavirus. The Waterford Upstart Summer Learning Path was purchased by the Escambia County School District in Florida and has been used at the elementary level. It will now be available throughout the summer months for preschoolers.

“It comes with evidence-based curriculum. So, this is not something free you’d get on the internet. This is high-quality programming that’s directly related to what students need to know as they’re starting kindergarten in August.” Kimberly Krupa, executive director of Achieve Escambia, a coalition of local agencies, told local WUWF.  

Students entering kindergarten should be able identify letters and letter sounds, shapes and colors and count to 20. Students may lose months of learning between Pre-K and kindergarten; the program hopes to bridge that gap.

The Waterford Upstart summer program includes educational songs, activities and curriculum for students and their families. Through Escambia County’s program, families will receive a free laptop and a Wi-Fi hotspot for the summer, according to Krupa.

The program runs through June 1 through August 31 and is designed to use between 20-25 minutes a day, five days a week for the duration of the summer. In addition, families get a weekly coaching call to help them understand what their children are learning.

Waterford is spending $9 million to provide the summer program in the following states: Arizona, California, Delaware, Florida, Indiana, Mississippi, New Mexico, Ohio and Texas. The program is open to 3,000 students in Florida. Registration is now open for the program.

About the Author

Yvonne Marquez is senior editor of Spaces4Learning. She can be reached at [email protected].

Featured

  • Doerr School of Sustainability Accelerator

    From Concrete Warehouse to Innovation Hub: Accelerating Sustainability at Stanford

    The transformation of a once windowless, concrete publishing warehouse into a sun-drenched center for global innovation began with a single, fundamental challenge: how to turn an industrial storage shell into a space built for human connection.

  • Houston-Area High School Breaks Ground on 117,000SF Multi-Use Facility

    North Shore Senior High School, part of Galena Park ISD in Houston, Texas, recently broke ground on a new multi-use facility for student extracurriculars, according to a news release. The North Shore Multi-Use Facility will include dedicated practice and training space for the school’s athletics and fine arts programs.

  • Surging Demand for Student Housing Fuels Major Campus Investment Opportunities

    University leaders throughout the U.S. are accelerating plans to modernize and expand student housing as enrollment stabilizes and demand for on-campus living rebounds. Recent data from the National Center for Education Statistics indicates that total postsecondary enrollment is projected to grow through the end of the decade, with undergraduate enrollment alone expected to increase by more than 8 percent by 2030.

  • Can AI Help Build Stronger Communities in Student Housing?

    Student housing success is shifting from operational performance to student experience, with belonging now at the center. A recent 2025 report underscores a growing emphasis on student well-being, community, and engagement, signaling that expectations now extend beyond logistics to ensure students feel supported in their living environments. AI is enabling that shift by reducing administrative workload and giving teams more time to focus on meaningful student engagement.