Our Story
The E3 School is an innovative, state-of-the-art, mixed-income, year-round school for all children and families. The school is in the Park Place neighborhood of Norfolk, Virginia. More than 12 years ago, a public-private partnership was forged to provide equitable access for all children ages one to five and to drive innovation, impact, policy change, and state investment.
The Big Picture
In partnership with the University of Virginia, the goal was to create a continuous improvement model that could be replicated and scaled to strengthen quality for more children in communities across Virginia. With support from E3: Elevate Early Education, UVA developed the STREAMin3 curriculum in our school. Today, more than 5,625 publicly funded classrooms have enrolled to use the curriculum through a collaboration with the Virginia Department of Education, UVA, and E3. It is now the most widely used early childhood curriculum in the state.
A Proven High-Quality Model
We set out to prove that when all children have equitable access to quality programs, regardless of their zip code, they will enter kindergarten with the academic and social skills they need to be successful. We have proven that year after year by implementing the model with fidelity.
More than 1,230 children were impacted, 127 scholarships were provided, and $4M+ was raised for the scholarship fund. The scholarship fund provides the opportunity for underserved and working families to attend our school.
Over the years, our team has shared lessons learned with other programs across the nation, state and region. We’ve shared our expertise, program and business model with cities, foundation leaders, philanthropists, faith-based and private programs, The Sprout School in Richmond, Hampton Child Development Center, Peake Early Childhood Center on the Peninsula, The Williams School in Norfolk, school divisions, Sentara, Piedmont Housing Alliance in Charlottesville, UVA’s School of Education and Human Development, Spark in North Carolina and many others.
2026 Snapshot of Quality, Early Literacy + Kindergarten Readiness
- Children are engaged in high-quality interactions with teachers in every classroom.
- Classroom quality averages exceeded statewide averages across all domains.
- The school reached its highest-recorded quality scores in instruction and learning interactions.
- Most children are within or above expected developmental ranges for math, self- regulation, and social skills.
- Most children are within or above expected developmental ranges for literacy skills.
- Targeted improvements resulted in substantial growth in literacy skills and social skills.
- Some children need more intervention and support in language comprehension.
Virginia Kindergarten Readiness Program (VKRP), 2026.
Every year, we examine the quality of interactions in the classroom, literacy, math, social skills and self-regulation of three-and-four-year-olds. A data-driven action plan is developed to improve quality, teaching, and learning in every classroom.
