A High-Quality Learning Facility in Central Maine
Educare Central Maine (ECM) is a state-of-the-art early learning center located in Waterville, Maine. ECM is connected to the George J. Mitchell Elementary School (GJMS). Together the partners focus on a continuum of quality early learning experiences from birth through grade three. The partnership with GJMS offers a natural transition between educational homes for the young learners and their parents and maximizes staff resources and expertise.
ECM is a Certified LEED “Green” Facility. It is designed to support each young child’s unique social, emotional, and cognitive development. The design of an early learning environment is critical to supporting teacher-child and parent-child interactions. ECM’s facility design is based upon research that highlights the relationship between high-quality learning facilities and improved child and family outcomes. In essence, the way that the building is designed enhances the learning of each child. Adjacent to the classrooms are learning spaces and hallways that provide sample space to be used for year-round indoor small and gross-motor development.
ECM functions as a high quality early care and education demonstration site for the State of Maine. Like all states with Educare facilities, ECM serves as a demonstration site for the highest quality teaching and instruction and a model for excellence in space design elements. The goal is not to construct a new center in every Maine community but rather to replicate elements of its best practices across the state, regardless of the learning environment.
ECM is the most rural Educare center in the nation and provides the Educare Learning Network critical information to aid in rural program development across the country.