Collaborative Classroom and AppleTree Institute Announce Strategic Early Childhood Partnership for Every Child Ready Curriculum

ALAMEDA, Calif., Jan. 14, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Center for the Collaborative Classroom and AppleTree Institute for Education Innovation announce a strategic partnership and licensing agreement that makes Collaborative Classroom the exclusive provider of AppleTree's comprehensive prekindergarten curriculum, Every Child Ready (ECR). 

An award-winning, play-based, and bilingual solution, Every Child Ready provides two years of instruction, assessment, and differentiation for children in preschool (PK3) and PreK or Transitional Kindergarten (PK4) classrooms, with educator training and family engagement all on one user-friendly platform. 

Proven Results: Every Child Ready Nearly Doubles the National Average of Kindergarten-Ready Students

A proven curriculum, Every Child Ready dramatically improves early learning outcomes for children, benefits educator practice, and enhances the classroom learning environment: 

• In classrooms implementing Every Child Ready, 89 percent of children are kindergarten-ready—nearly double the national average (47 percent). 
• Ninety percent of educators felt more confident in their practice after completing Every Child Ready curriculum trainings.
• Every Child Ready educators demonstrate significantly higher performance in the CLASS Instructional Support domain compared to educators in non-ECR classrooms.

Every Child Ready Is Approved and Aligned with Standards for Our Youngest Learners

Every Child Ready aligns with practices encouraged by professional organizations such as Head Start and the National Association for the Education of Young Children in addition to state department of education standards for early childhood learning in the states of Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Texas, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming, as well as in the District of Columbia.

With the Addition of Every Child Ready, Collaborative Classroom Offers Comprehensive Early Childhood Solutions

The addition of Every Child Ready to Collaborative Classroom's early childhood portfolio uniquely positions the organization to broaden its impact and offer a comprehensive array of early childhood curricula and professional learning solutions that meet a wide variety of needs:

• Every Child Ready, a comprehensive, fully bilingual, play-based prekindergarten curriculum that covers all domains of learning and provides two years of differentiated instruction for PK3 and PK4 with integrated teacher supports
• SEEDS of Learning™, a professional learning framework designed to enhance the instructional quality of any early childhood curriculum through training and coaching of adults who care for and teach children ages 3–5 
• Pinecone Path, a science-of-reading-aligned literacy curriculum for the year before kindergarten that also teaches oral language, executive functioning, and social skills

A Mission-Driven Partnership to Provide Cohesive, High-Quality Instruction That Spans Early Childhood Through Grade 5

Leaders from Collaborative Classroom and AppleTree Institute agree that this strategic partnership furthers their respective missions.

Collaborative Classroom CEO and president Kelly Stuart said, "We're honored to partner with AppleTree Institute for Education Innovation. As two mission-driven nonprofit organizations committed to an evidence-based curriculum, Collaborative Classroom and AppleTree share a vision to ensure all children enter kindergarten ready to thrive and prepared for long-term academic success. Bringing Every Child Ready into the Collaborative Classroom family of early childhood education solutions accelerates our mission to reach more classrooms with proven curricula and professional learning and create a cohesive instructional journey from preschool and PreK all the way through fifth grade." 

AppleTree Institute co-CEO Chavaughn Brown said, "AppleTree Institute for Education Innovation developed Every Child Ready in 2010 to reflect what decades of research tell us young children need most: research-based, developmentally appropriate, play-based instruction grounded in strong relationships. What excites me about Every Child Ready joining Collaborative Classroom's offerings is how well aligned both organizations are to increasing access to high-quality curriculum in all classrooms. Through our partnership with Collaborative Classroom, we are excited to scale this work thoughtfully and support educators in meeting children where they are, strengthening individualized social, emotional, and academic foundations that align with each child's developmental trajectory." 

Overdeck Family Foundation, a funder of both Collaborative Classroom and AppleTree Institute, provided strategic guidance as this prospective partnership between the two organizations was explored.

Carly Roberts, Senior Portfolio Manager for Early Impact at Overdeck Family Foundation, said: "AppleTree Institute and Collaborative Classroom share a deep commitment to rigorous research and strong results. Together, their partnership represents a cohesive, Pre-K–Grade 5 approach that intentionally bridges early learning and elementary education. By partnering on the Every Child Ready curriculum, AppleTree Institute and Collaborative Classroom can augment each other's strengths. This exemplifies the kind of innovation and strategic collaboration we believe are essential to scale what works, strengthening educator practice and, ultimately, improving student outcomes."

ABOUT COLLABORATIVE CLASSROOM

Collaborative Classroom is a mission-driven, nonprofit organization committed to ensuring that all students become readers, writers, and thinkers who learn from, care for, and respect one another. 

As one of the few nonprofit organizations in the country that develop, disseminate, and implement curriculum at scale, Collaborative Classroom is dedicated to putting students, educators, and research at the center of every decision and providing personalized, cutting-edge implementation supports for the schools and students it serves.

The organization's evidence-based programs and innovative professional learning are used by educators in all 50 states in more than a thousand school districts. Collaborative Classroom's portfolio of solutions spans preschool and prekindergarten through grade 8, with some curricula extending through grades 9–12. 

Since the organization's founding, Collaborative Classroom's work has reached more than 10 million students and 440,000 educators across the country, developing fluent readers and skilled writers, supporting instructional equity, transforming discipline practices, and bolstering student and teacher engagement. 

Learn more about Collaborative Classroom at collaborativeclassroom.org.

ABOUT APPLETREE INSTITUTE FOR EDUCATION INNOVATION

AppleTree Institute for Education Innovation is an award-winning nonprofit organization committed to increasing access to high-quality early learning experiences, with deep experience supporting the running of preschools across multiple states and operating their own high-achieving preschools across the District of Columbia for more than 20 years. 

AppleTree won a prestigious Investing in Innovation (i3) grant to create Every Child Ready, a comprehensive, evidence-based instructional model for 3- and 4-year-olds. The Every Child Ready comprehensive, research-based curriculum for PreK classrooms blends purposeful play, targeted instruction, and family engagement to ensure all children benefit from high-quality early learning instructional materials and developmentally appropriate practices. Every Child Ready contains significant learning opportunities emerging from diverse children's literature and project-based science, technology, education, and mathematics (STEM) learning.

Learn more about the AppleTree Institute for Education Innovation at appletreeinstitute.org/appletree-institute.  

SOURCE Collaborative Classroom