Adaptive leadership requires that practitioners push the boundaries of current policies and systems to provide optimal services to children and families. This process includes self-reflection, strategic positioning, building relationships with advocates, inspiring service providers and policymakers, and creating a shared vision. This article…

This paper analyzes the lasting impacts of a project aimed at teaching children how to read and write at age 6. Using a Difference-in-Differences methodology, the results show that it is not enough to get children literate at age 6 to secure lasting effects; the instruction process is also an important factor: Only pupils exposed to the Phonics…

This edition of "Bright Futures" highlights 12 states (Alabama, Colorado, Nevada, Iowa, Maryland, Ohio, West Virginia, Connecticut, Guam, Maine, Pennsylvania and Kansas) that have received grants to support the development of an Early Childhood Advisory Council. Other features of this edition include announcements of state early…

With creative ideas contributed from Wisconsin youth services librarians, this manual is a practical guide for planning and implementing the state's 1999 summer library program. Dealing with the theme, "Go Global: Read!," this manual contains a broad spectrum of ideas--from solid information about varied cultures to playful fantasy tales…

Childhood and adolescent obesity rates have reached epidemic proportions in the United States and are growing. The sedentary routines found in schools and in the home as well as the overexposure to unhealthy snacks and nonnutritional foods contribute to the pervasiveness of this disease that afflicts America's children. Obese children face…

The Student Health Initiative is a joint initiative of the Canadian provincial government partners of Education, Health, Family, and Social Services; the Alberta Mental Health Board; the Child and Family Services Secretariat; and Community Development. The initiative is designed to strengthen the capacity to deliver health and related support…

The report is the result of a 1981 research project commissioned by Australia's Commonwealth Department of Education to investigate early childhood education for Aborigines. The study encompassed the care and education of Aboriginal children from age 0 to age 5 in government and non-government school systems. The report is divided into three major…

This document describes the early childhood services program in Alberta, Canada and its goals for accomplishment with children, within families, and in the community. Early Childhood Services (ECS), Alberta Education, is concerned with the provision of a coordinated system of local, regional, and provincial programs and services to meet the…

Designed to encourage Texas youth to maintain reading skill levels achieved at the end of the school year and to encourage library use during the summer months and throughout the year, the Texas Reading Club programs usually include a structured reading program and a variety of entertaining literature related storyhours, puppet shows, films, and…

This newsletter issue is about the growth of programs that serve infants, toddlers, and their families, and the management of that growth. The articles address early intervention programs with infants and young children with disabilities. The first article, "Implementing a Multi-site, Multidisciplinary Clinical Trial: The Infant Health and…

The Talk to a Literacy Learner (TTALL) program was developed in response to a New South Wales (Australia) government initiative, and is designed to focus on parents and the strategies they use to interact with their children as they read and write. An 8-week parent workshop on literacy development and a community tutor program trained selected…

Examines the American prototype of proper balance between family and state in terms of their responsibility for the cultivation of potential in children, and contrasts it with an alternative European model. Proposes an agenda of comparative research that explores the relationship between state and kinship systems and the direct or indirect impact…

This guide describes the status of selected family resource programs in the United States and Canada. The first chapter provides detailed descriptions of 13 programs that offer collaborative and comprehensive services. These programs, which are often large and innovative, foster coalitions of service providers in order to offer an extensive range…

Beginning with the assumption that children across the full spectrum of family income, family composition, and prior experience with child care would benefit from being in a well-implemented preschool at 3 and 4 years of age, this working paper focuses on finding a feasible way to finance universal preschool for 4-year-olds. The paper begins with…

Meeting nutritional needs of children in West Virginia is vital to the state's economic development. A malnourished, uneducable population will be unemployable in a high tech society and the state cannot afford custodial and welfare costs resulting from childhood malnutrition. Evidence of nutritional need in West Virginia includes low rate of…