AppleTree’s mission is to close the achievement gap before children get to kindergarten by providing three- and four-year-olds with the social, emotional, and cognitive foundations that enable them to succeed in school.

AppleTree is an entrepreneurial enterprise consisting of a research and development institute and a public charter preschool with seven campuses serving as models for effective teaching and learning. AppleTree Institute for Education Innovation and AppleTree Early Learning Public Charter School work together to produce and use an award-winning curriculum, teacher professional development, and school support systems.

Children who graduate from AppleTree programs have the strong early academic and social-emotional skills they will need in kindergarten, elementary school, and beyond.

AppleTree Institute has developed Every Child Ready, a comprehensive instructional model that drives how to teach, what to teach, and how to tell it’s being done in early childhood classrooms. Every Child Ready increases teacher effectiveness and children’s learning, erasing the achievement gap before children begin kindergarten. In 2011-2012, all 31 classrooms of AppleTree Early Learning PCS successfully piloted Every Child Ready. Six other public schools in Washington, DC are implementing Every Child Ready in the 2013-2014 school year.

Together, AppleTree’s early childhood programs impact the lives of more than 1,200 children each year.