The Effects of Full-Day vs. Half-Day Preschool on Early School Achievement
NIEER's new working paper, titled "Is More Better? The Effects of Full-Day vs. Half-Day Preschool on Early School Achievement," presents the findings of a randomized trial comparing the effects of extended-day, extended-year public preschool to half-day public preschool on children's literacy and mathematics learning. Results indicate that students do indeed benefit from extended-duration instruction; students in full-day programs improved their standard math and vocabulary scores by 11 to 12 points, compared to a 6 to 7 standard point increase for half-day students. To read the NIEER working paper in PDF format (22 pages), go to: http://nieer.org/resources/research/IsMoreBetter.pdf
Laura Bush Announces Global Literacy Conference
First Lady Laura Bush announced that a conference on global literacy will be held in New York in September 2006 in conjunction with the 61st session of the United Nations General Assembly. The conference will look at literacy programs that work, and will connect countries with the information they need to implement similar programs. The conference will also encourage leaders from around the world to become involved in literacy in their own countries, and to learn ways to support UNESCO's goal of Education for All by 2015. For more information and to read a transcript of the First Ladies speech, click here.
New Checklist Helps Parents Select High-Quality Pre-K Programs
Pre-K Now and the National Parent Teacher Association (National PTA) have created the "Finding High-Quality Pre-K Checklist," a take-along resource that families can use when visiting and selecting a program. This checklist covers dozens of pre-k quality factors and gives parents specific questions to pose to program staff and to ask of themselves. With these questions, families will be able to evaluate program features such as teacher training and styles, classroom facilities and management, and support for parental involvement. To download and print the checklist, go to:
http://www.preknow.org/documents/Pre-k_checklist.pdf To learn more about finding high-quality Pre-K programs, visit the Pre-K Now website at: http://www.preknow.org/families/findprek/find.cfm
The PK-3 Movement
The concept behind the PK-3 movement is that pre-kindergarten programs should not be housed on school campuses simply because some empty classrooms are available. Pre-K curriculum needs to flow seamlessly into the K-3 curriculum, and school staff should communicate regularly about pre-kindergartners' progress. Free registration required to read this article and other Education Week articles. For more information, click here. To learn more about the PK-3 movement, visit the Foundation for Child Development website at:
http://www.fcd-us.org/PK3ResearchandProfiles.html
National Institute for Literacy Redesigns Website
The National Institute for Literacy website helps to provide high quality information about literacy that is easily accessible. The NIL Website has recently been updated and is now sectioned off into areas designated by early childhood, childhood, adolescence, and adulthood. The site continues to offer links to all of the Institute's projects and publications and plans to redesign more areas of the site in the future.To check out this site, go to: http://www.nifl.gov/
Report of the National Literacy Panel on Language-Minority Children and Youth
SRI International and the Center for Applied Linguistics (CAL) were awarded a contract from the Institute of Education Sciences (U.S. Department of Education) to convene a National Literacy Panel (NLP) in 2002. The panel was appointed to conduct a literature review of the research on the literacy development of English language learners. An Executive Summary of the report is now available on the CAL website. To read the press release about the report, click here. To download the PDF of the Executive Summary, go to:
http://www.cal.org/natl-lit-panel/reports/Executive_Summary.pdf
The Center for Early Literacy Information
The Center for Early Literacy Information (CELI) is a resource for researchers, teachers, families, school administrators and others who are looking for early literacy information from a variety of sources including articles, books, reports, technical papers, and more.To learn more, go to: http://www.earlyliteracyinfo.org/index.aspx
Symposium on Research in Child Language Disorders
The Symposium on Research in Child Language Disorders (SRCLD) will take place on June 1-3, 2006 at the Monona Terrace Convention Center in Madison, Wisconsin. For more information about the symposium, go to:
http://www.srcld.org/home/home.aspx To register online, go to:
https://www.srcld.org/Registration/OnlineRegistration.aspx
NAEYC Professional Development Conference
The National Association for the Education of Young Children will host the 15th National Institute for Early Childhood Professional Development on June 4-7, 2006 at the Marriott Rivercenter and Riverwalk Hotels in San Antonio, Texas. The Conference is aimed at helping early childhood professionals better understand how "Connecting with Standards" can be a foundation for high-quality programs.For more information, go to: http://www.naeyc.org/conferences/institute/ To register online, click here.
National Training Institute for Educational Administrators
Yale University is hosting a National Training Institute for educational administrators interested in practical applications and the latest research on NCLB, preschool and school-age programs. The Institute offers administrators the chance to meet with experts, network with other educational leaders who are implementing School of the 21st Century programs, and find out strategies to close the achievement gap and meet NCLB requirements. The Institute will be held on July 17-18, 2006 in New Haven, CT. For more information, go to: http://www.yale.edu/21c/conference.html
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
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