NIEER Publishes New Early Literacy Policy Brief
Joining NIEER's series offering policy guidance on early education issues is Volume 10 titled Early Literacy: Policy and Practice in the Preschool Years by Dorothy S. Strickland and Shannon Riley-Ayers. The 12-page brief discusses the growing focus on early literacy and develops recommendations and discussion in the context of five issues --standards, curriculum, accountability and assessment, teacher education and home school connections. For more information, go to: http://nieer.org/docs/index.php?DocID=143
NCLD Launches Online Parent Center
The National Center for Learning Disabilities, Inc. recently launched a new section of its Web site devoted especially to parents. This new Online Parent Center provides parents with the tools and up-to-date information needed to be effective advocates for their children. You will find a Parent's Guide to IDEA as well as insights and tips from parents around the country that have successfully navigated the special education system and so much more. To visit this site, go to: http://www.ld.org/parents
Study Reveals Prolonged Effectiveness of Early Intervention Programs
A new study from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation discusses the findings of an 18-year follow-up of low birth weight infants, some who were provided with early preschool and others who did not participate. The study finds that the children who did receive early education, particularly the "heavier" low birth weight group, had better academic and behavioral outcomes as their lives progressed than their peers who did not. For more information, go to:
http://www.rwjf.org/newsroom/newsreleasesdetail.jsp?id=10396
Early Literacy Pays Off
A modest investment in early literacy programs can yield substantial benefits, according to an independent study of programs funded by PacifiCorp Foundation for Learning. The study, conducted by the Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory (NWREL), found that the reading initiatives are helping teachers rescue children who arrive at kindergarten unprepared to learn how to read and also are boosting the amount of time that low-income families spend helping their struggling readers at home. For more information, go to: http://www.educationnews.org/gen/Investing_in_Early_Literacy_Pays_Off.htm
Head Start's Eighth National Research Conference
Head Start's National Research Conference is a biennial event, which provides practitioners, researchers, administrators, and policy makers involved in Head Start, early childhood, childcare, health care, and administration programs the opportunity to share research that promotes positive development in young children. The conference will be held June 26-28, 2006 at the Hyatt Regency Washington on Capitol Hill. To register online and to find out more, go to:
http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/opre/hsrc/index.html
National Assessment of Title I: Interim Report to Congress
The National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance in the Institute of Education Sciences recently released "National Assessment of Title I: Interim Report to Congress." Volume II of this report, "Closing the Reading Gap: First Year Finding from a Randomized Trial of Four Reading Interventions for Striving Readers," demonstrates findings from Closing the Reading Gap, an evaluation of the impact of supplemental remedial reading programs on student achievement. The whole report, Volume II, and an Executive Summary are available at: http://www.ed.gov/rschstat/eval/disadv/title1interimreport/index.html
Lifelong Literacy Web Site
The Library recently launched a new "Lifelong Literacy" Web site with links to Library of Congress collections and properties that promote reading and literacy. This launch is just the first step in a much broader campaign to promote literacy to children and their families. In the next few months, with the participation of external literacy partners, the Library intends to create several more robust online resources to encourage reading.To visit this new Web site, go to: http://www.loc.gov/literacy/
Measuring Child Well Being
The Brookings Center on Children and Families, in cooperation with the Foundation for Child Development and Duke University, recently released the 2006 Child Well-Being Index (CWI). The CWI, which focuses on seven domains of child well-being including health and education is based on thirty years of data collected from a variety of national surveys. The new report shows continued improvement in the status of America's children, but also provides sobering statistics on obesity and education. For more information, go to: http://www.brook.edu/es/ccf/ccf_hp.htm
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