Providing day care was once seen as a way to get low-income parents into the workforce, but now, using child care to pull future generations out of poverty is capturing the imagination of government and businesses alike.

From St. Paul's North End to north Minneapolis to Wayzata to Blue Earth County, a number of projects aim to get more daycare workers introducing 3- and 4-year-olds to what they'll be learning in kindergarten.

"Right now, we've got about 50 percent of our kids not ready for kindergarten," said state Sen. Tarryl Clark, DFL-St. Cloud. "For many families, child care is today's preschool. And with very high percentages of parents working, we can make a difference here."

According to the Children's Defense Fund, 670,000 Minnesota children under 12 spend some time each week in child care. Officials estimate that 40 percent of preschool children in Minnesota attend child-care centers. Why not use child care to help close the achievement gap between low-income and minority students and their more affluent white peers?

Several public and private efforts are coming together to do that, Clark said, and Minnesota could make real progress.

Several pilot efforts are training child-care providers and creating a rating system to help parents choose high-quality care programs.

A St. Paul project is already showing progress, with children starting school ahead of peers in the same demographic.

Clark authored a $6 million bill during the last legislative session that gives low-income parents $4,000 in annual assistance to help pay for high-quality care in St. Paul, north Minneapolis and the Blue Earth County-Nicollet County area. At the same time, the Minnesota Early Learning Foundation, formed from contributions by some of Minnesota's top employers, has launched or helped fund quality care projects in those same places -- as well as in the Wayzata School District, said Barbara Yates, director of programs and operations for the foundation.

"With so many children in child care, let's make sure that care supports their learning," Yates said. "Let's get them ready. And let's make sure the providers can get them ready."

Teaching the teachers

Mary Albert was never a day-care provider who just "let the kids sit and watch TV," she said. She would go to kindergarten classes and ask teachers what she could be doing to better prepare kids for school.

Then, in 2005, St. Paul schools started Project Early Kindergarten to train child-care providers for just that purpose. Using a grant from the McKnight Foundation, the district and Resources for Child Caring worked with providers to set up lesson plans and use school curriculum as a template for 3- and 4-year-olds.

Albert learned to stay on one idea -- such as the color red -- until kids really get it. Kids wear red, talk about the "r" sound, use visual aids and use the color to build vocabulary about other red things.

"Kids are like a little sponge, and if you say a lot of words or read to them, they'll grasp that," Albert said.

Shanikia White said Albert's work has made a real difference for her twin 3-year-old boys, Donterris and Dontae.

Born two months premature, both boys have had development delays, but they've made real progress. Dontae, who has Down syndrome and is hard of hearing, is using sign language to communicate, she said. Donterris recognizes his letters, is talking and is nearly caught up to other kids. "By kindergarten, I think he's going to be fine," White said.

Allison Breininger of Resources for Child Caring, Albert's "coach," said the program is boosting what care providers can accomplish with their kids. She's seen the progress of Dontae and Donterris.

"When I first got there, [Albert] would try to do a story time and they couldn't sit for a minute," Breininger said. "Now, their assessment scores have jumped. Dontae came and sat on my lap and made the sounds of 'Brown Bear, Brown Bear' while we looked at it."