Principles of Effective P-3 Partnerships: Improved Family Engagement Language
I have strengthened the language around family engagement and support in the principles for effective P-3 partnerships and the associated theory of action graphic. You will see that I drew on a consolidated version of the renowned Head Start family and community engagement outcomes, which I think are right on-point and fit well within the context of…
Inequality, Non-cognitive Skills, and Character Strengths
Thomas Edsall is an opinion columnist for the New York Times who often writes about the intersection of inequality and politics. His articles typically synthesize research findings and the perspectives of experts, whose commentary he frequently quotes. His latest piece, “What Does It Take to Climb Up the Ladder?” discusses the important role of non-cognitive skills and…
How Social Isolation Is Killing Us
From the New York Times: “Loneliness can accelerate cognitive decline in older adults, and isolated individuals are twice as likely to die prematurely as those with more robust social interactions. These effects start early: Socially isolated children have significantly poorer health 20 years later, even after controlling for other factors. All told, loneliness is as…
“You Are on the Cusp of a Huge Movement”
So exclaimed Libby Doggett, the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy and Early Learning at the US Department of Education. Doggett discussed the Birth—3rd movement at the recent District Leadership Summit in Chicago organized by the Ounce of Prevention Fund. She told the audience of district leaders that we are at “unique moment in time” and “can…
Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Quality and Family Engagement
The political dynamic seems to have changed since this Washington Post article was published almost a year ago, but see Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s discussion of preschool quality and wraparound services for parents as he describes his administration’s work on early education in Chicago. Too many Republicans today ridicule the value of early education. That would come…
Family Engagement Teaching Cases
The renowned Harvard Family Research Project has developed a new resource that is available to the public, The Create Your Case Toolkit. This toolkit builds on the Harvard Family Research Project’s extensive work on Family Engagement Teaching Cases. Here is how the Family Research Project describes the new tool: Stories help people form relationships and…
Parent-Child Home Program in the Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal recently ran an article about the Parent-Child Home program, which operates in many communities in Massachusetts. For all the energy poured into [New York City’s] preschool expansion, some researchers and early-childhood advocates say that the most at-risk children need help with literacy much earlier than pre-K. While skeptics question whether these…
Two-Generation Programs 2.0
The current issue of the Future of Children is on “Helping Parents, Helping Children: Two-Generation Mechanisms.” As the editors say in the introduction, “The two-generation model is based on the assumption that serving parents and children simultaneously with high-quality intervention programs would be more effective (and perhaps more efficient) than serving them individually.” See in particular the article…