Mission:  The mission of the Nonpublic School Early childhood Development (NSECD) Program is to collaborate and partner with compliant nonpublic schools and class “a” daycares in providing high-quality, developmentally appropriate preschool instruction and services to four-year-old children of TANF- eligible families.

Program Overview

 

Housed in the Governor’s Office of Community Programs, the NSECD Program was first created through legislative appropriation for the 2001-2002 school year to operate in Orleans Parish. The Program expanded under the prior Administration to serve at-risk children who attended schools in nine designated parishes before being expanded statewide due to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

The program is funded through Louisiana’s Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), federal block grant funds designed to prevent poverty.

Philosophy

The Provider schools in the NSECD Program adhere to the developmental philosophy outlined by the National Association for the Education of Young Children. Developmentally appropriate practices in early childhood education programs are proven by research to result in long-term positive outcomes for children. Inherent in this philosophy is a child-centered program directed toward the development of cognitive, social and emotional, language and literacy, creative arts, and health and physical concepts and skills in a manner, and at a pace, consistent with the needs and capabilities of the individual child.