Family engagement is essential to high quality services for all children in early childhood care and education. From the beginning of life, families nurture their children and the capacities they will need to be ready for school. The Parent, Family, and Community Engagement (PFCE) Framework for Early Childhood Systems is a guide to understanding…

Young children's exposure to early math concepts is important in their development, in their confidence in math skills, and in their ability to use math later in life. In 2013, the Heising-Simons Foundation embarked on an innovative path to support children's early math development. The Foundation invited several family engagement providers to…

This report highlights the critical role family literacy and learning play in breaking down barriers between different learning contexts and engaging hard-to-reach adults and children in education. This report was developed as part of a family learning project initiated by the UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning (UIL) in 2016. Based on the…

This report is an evaluation of New York City's 1987-88 Parent Involvement Program (PIP). PIP included the following: (1) a Parent Orientation Program focusing on parents of children in grades K-3 in six community school districts; (2) a Citywide Parent Involvement Program; and (3) community school district, borough-wide, and local school Parent…

In late 1999, philanthropist Susie Buffett wanted to make the smartest possible investment to improve public education in her hometown of Omaha, Nebraska. She and her then-foundation president, Dan Pedersen, spoke with Superintendent John Mackiel regarding how he would choose to use private funds to enhance opportunities for Omaha's 46,000…

The report and an accompanying executive summary of a statewide needs assessment on young handicapped children in Iowa examine services available, effectiveness of services, and needed changes. The introduction provides an overview of State Planning Grants, Iowa's history of early childhood special education, and this project's approach to…

Under the broad banner of education, training, and collaboration across systems, this paper examines, through analysis of seven individual projects, issues and insights associated with three central themes: (1) the link between ECD programs and children's school readiness; (2) the promotion of parenting enrichment programs as a childcare quality…

Children of immigrants are an important and growing part of American society, and they have an increasingly vital role to play in the future of this country. Those arriving in the U.S. as immigrants or refugees, as well as those born here to at least one immigrant parent, currently make up more than 20% of all children and youth in this country.…

This publication reflects the philosophy and support of the Bernard van Leer Foundation for early childhood care and development. It highlights different approaches to early childhood care and development and explains why the foundation believes that investing in early childhood is one of the best ways of building a brighter, better future. The…

If early childhood systems are to be effective at the population level then they must be able to provide family-centered care to all the racial, ethnic and cultural groups that they serve. Despite major policy driven and technological advances in healthcare, health disparities across different races and ethnicities persist. For example, the infant…

Presents nine public relations programs developed for a Connecticut elementary school that were adapted from other schools and tailored to the school's specific needs. (MD)

The final report describes major activities accomplished during the 1981-82 project year to develop a comprehensive plan in New York State for handicapped children, aged 3-5, and to accelerate services to handicapped infants through Regional Early Childhood Direction Centers (RECDC). Briefly discussed are the processes for the following outcomes:…

This issue brief looks at evaluations of 34 academically focused summer programs in order to distill challenges and compile promising strategies for creating quality summer programs. While many summer programs face similar implementation challenges, each program has different components and needs, and not every strategy is feasible or even…

The paper provides a synthesis of "best practices" from the field of disability, which can be applied to develop exemplary early childhood special education programs. Exemplary programs are determined to be those providing services that are integrated, comprehensive, normalized, adaptable, peer- and family-referenced, and outcome-based.…

The three conference papers presented in this document are grouped under the general heading, "Our National Dilemma," and deal with issues involved in providing disadvantaged students with a quality education. The first paper, "Building Quality Relationships" (James Comer), discusses the need to improve the quality of…