Who We Are:

Established in 1977, Community Day School Association (CDSA) is the largest kindergarten readiness, before and after school, and summer camp program operating within Seattle Public Schools. CDSA serves nearly 1,000 children with nurturing and fun learning environments which grow children both academically and socio-emotionally.

The best education is multi-faceted. At CDSA, we teach empathy through arts and drama, self expression through music and dance, and science through nature walks, hands on gardening and computer training.  CDSA spans the second most ethnically and socio-economically diverse zip code in the nation (98118), and our staff team reflects the communities we serve. We celebrate cultural diversity in every layer of our program by engaging children in an environment where decorations and ‘props’ span world cultures, and over 10 native languages are spoken by both CDSA children and CDSA teachers. Because we believe a ‘wide angle lens’ best prepares all children to fully discover themselves, and to thrive in today’s world, CDSA is a setting where all religions, races, and nationalities mix for a common shared experience of growing and learning together.

As part of our whole child approach, we realize that a continuum of care is not only important for a transition to kindergarten, but also afterwards, through each grade of a child’s schooling. Recognizing this, we are a member of Seattle’s PreK-3rd Partnership, where CDSA has helped develop a five year action plan for integrated education.

Curriculum

CDSA believes the best education for children comes from a nurturing learning environment which embraces diversity, promotes discovery, and celebrates a collaborative learning process involving child, teacher, and parent.

CDSA utilizes Creative Curriculum, a nationally recognized emergent learning format which employs industry best practices, as well as a host of enrichment tools for our holistic approach to childhood development. We focus on healthy lifestyle choices by teaching about the importance of protein versus sugar, to prepare a mind for focused learning. To educate children about our green planet, we’ve partnered with the Sierra Club, and introduced a ‘Rain Garden’ project to teach about water cleanliness, conservation, and organic growing.

In our summer months, we engage children with outdoor expeditions like beach-combing, rock climbing, and visits to the Woodland Park Zoo and Seattle Aquarium. We also partner with the Seward Park Audubon Society for ‘Talking Tree’ rainforest tours, to teach ‘hands on’ about the wonder of nature which can be found so close to home.

Our Reflective Practice teaching model is promoted by Seattle Early Education Collaborative (SEEC) as a best practice. It recognizes that each individual child has a unique learning style. This is a departure from broadly implementing one standard teaching method for all children, and it requires teachers to be flexible, engaged, and bi-lingual.

CDSA helps children in the crucial transition from preschool into kindergarten, and beyond. We help parents complete all required paperwork, and basic health screening, so their children properly transition from our preschool program into Kindergarten itself. Further, because of our collaboration with SPS, these children enter Kindergarten with a SPS teacher who has already learned about any special needs or ways we’ve noticed the child best learns. They are also already familiar with the physical space of the school, since CDSA uses the school library, art class, gym, and play-ground. Since CDSA children even attend class observations ahead of time to prepare for the coming year, both child and parent have a smooth transition in first engaging with their child’s SPS teacher.

Collaborations & Partnerships

CDSA does not achieve its success alone. We rely on our many collaborations and partnerships. One such partnership is with Powerful Schools, who join us to teach arts and literacy through an exciting combination of dance, music, and literature. By learning story structure and engaging with character development, children deepen their ability to empathize. These classes are interactive, so children also grow confidence in sharing their thoughts and emotions, and impacting the group experience. CDSA also partners with a program called SCORES, which combines soccer and poetry, and Ewajo dance, which grows concentration and confidence thru dance. CDSA welcomes such programs, and many more, into our classrooms because we believe a variety of experts – all working to reduce barriers to learning – is the best way to help kids.

For their professional development, our staff team joins SPS staff in attending specific trainings which are applicable to both CDSA teachers and SPS teachers. We also source expertise from a wide variety of professional coaches available to us in King County, thru School’s Out Washington, Child Care Resources, Seattle Early Education Collaborative, Seeds to Success, Champions for Children, and Praxis Institute for Early Childhood Education. Our staff receives special training in health screening, developmentally appropriate teaching practices, cultural relevancy, and anti-bias curriculum.

Results

CDSA’s program outcomes are long-proven. In our before and after school program, our ‘outcome results’ average 90% improvement for both socio-emotional development, and academic achievement,  as measured by 3 separate parties – SPS teachers, parents, and our CDSA enrichment teachers. These successful outcomes have been consistent over the decade-long funding we’ve proudly received from United Way of King County. In our pre-school programs, we administer the highest national standardized evaluations as part of our NAEYC accreditation. These results showed development improvement of 53% for Cognitive, 51% for Social-emotional, 50% for Language, and 40% for Physical. NAEYC accreditation ensures our services are effective on all fronts.

In parent focus groups administered by the Taproot Foundation, parents referred to our program as the kind of nurturing environment a child might experience from a grandparent.  The top 5 most common words they used to describe CDSA were: inclusive, community, nurturing, quality, and enrichment.

Family Assistance

Tuition Assistance is offered at CDSA, and we proudly place no limits on the number of families who come to our program on government subsidized tuition. The families who enter our program are entering a network of assistance which supports long term results. Please inquire with us directly about our tuition assistance options.