Early childhood education is getting a major boost from an initiative at Virginia Commonwealth University that works to recruit, train, support and retain quality early childhood teachers for Central Virginia’s public schools.

The program, the RTR Teacher Residency Early Childhood Pathway, received a $400,000 federal grant from Congressman A. Donald McEachin, who presented a ceremonial check to VCU officials April 14.

“High quality, early childhood education has been shown to dramatically enhance youths’ cognitive, psychological and emotional development and better prepare them for their primary education,” Rep. McEachin said. “Our teachers deserve a robust program that prepares them for their careers and supports them along the way.”

According to Dr. Andrew Daire, dean of the VCU School of Education, the RTR program, which started as Richmond Teacher Residency, will train recruits for work at “high-need, hard to staff schools,” through yearlong, graduate-level education.

The program hopes to ensure children from marginalized communities have the quality education that can lead to a promising future and allows them to fully develop the psychological, social and emotional faculties that Dr. Daire said are critical for their early lives.

The program also seeks to address the social and economic consequences understaffed schools have on young children from underserved communities.

“As a country, we have an opportunity to do so much better in educating the poor and educating underrepresented minorities,” Dr. Daire said. “And that starts with high-quality, early childhood development. And it starts with high-quality, early childhood teachers.”