Joyce Preschool has been providing quality early childhood education to children and families for more than 40 years, and bilingual Spanish-English programming since 1995. We are located in the Uptown neighborhood of Minneapolis, MN.

There are three features that make Joyce Preschool unique within metropolitan Minneapolis:

1. The first is the two-way immersion/bicultural nature of the program. Joyce continues to be one of very few preschools in the community that goes beyond a single language model or an “English as a Second Language” model, to dual language and cultural immersion with bilingual staff.
2. The second is the genuine diversity and multicultural setting. Joyce is the only preschool to maintain a 50:50 ratio of English and Spanish-speaking students, with a policy of having 40-60% receiving scholarship assistance, thereby educating a cultural, ethnic, and economic kaleidoscope of students.
3. The third is commitment of service to families. The school makes special efforts to involve families in their child's academic success, including their transition from the preschool setting into kindergarten.

Fifty percent of Joyce Preschool's population is Latino families for whom the language in the home is Spanish. Approximately 50% of our population is English-speaking, many with adoptive children from Latin American countries seeking a cultural immersion opportunity. In addition, there are a few families of other language origin that also find a comfortable home within our multicultural, multilingual setting.

Policy governing staffing requires that fifty percent of our teaching staff be native Spanish speakers. Currently, seven of Joyce Preschool’s nine staff are bilingual, including our Executive Director, with one head teacher from Peru and two assistant teachers from Mexico. One of these assistant teachers has been at the school for ten years now and is a parent of two former students. Our teachers have related degrees and many years experience in early childhood education.

We all have a deep appreciation for children and their learning journeys. We want all families to feel welcome and comfortable at Joyce Preschool, regardless of differences in ethnic, linguistic, racial, religious or socio-economic backgrounds. Bringing together students from different backgrounds makes for a rich and rewarding experience for everyone. We want all children to succeed and feel positive about school in general. Finally, we support parents in order to build a foundation of school involvement, give them tools to be active in their child’s early childhood education, and support parents’ and students’ transition to elementary school systems.

Joyce Preschool does not discriminate against any person because of race, color, sex, national origin, age or disability.