The Lake Stevens School District has provided early learning opportunities for disadvantaged students for many years. Originally located in an old wood-framed building with adjacent portable classrooms, it had been relocated to a group of modular buildings that had previously served an alternative high school program. Recognizing the impact early learning opportunities can have on lower income students’ educational success later in their educational journey, the District recently completed a new 21,000 square-foot facility to house and expand these opportunities.

Co-located with a new K-5 elementary school, the new Early Learning Center is now part of a P-5 campus that will provide a continuum of services for three-, four-, and five-year-old students up through the fifth grade. Early Childhood Education and Assistance Program (ECEAP) and their Developmental Preschool Programs are now co-located in the facility, sharing access to the adjacent elementary school, secure indoor and outdoor play spaces, as well as a variety of pull-out areas where quieter activities can occur.