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Resources
Born Learning
United Way Agency and Community Partner bornlearning
newsletter column
United Way, United Way Success By 6®, Vision 2015, Citi
and numerous additional community partners are bringing the
bornlearning™ public engagement campaign to Northern Kentucky
to help parents, caregivers and the entire community create
quality early learning opportunities for young children. Leshia
Lyman is director, Northern Kentucky Area Center, United Way
of Greater Cincinnati.
It’s the simple things that make a difference in building a
young child’s foundation for school success.
It’s not flash cards or expensive educational toys—it’s
making your grocery trip into a treasure hunt for colors and
shapes and turning laundry sorting into a silly song about body
parts. Or, on your next walk, narrating your child’s actions
as if you were a sports announcer. Even breakfast can become
a learning opportunity, as your toddler builds math skills by
counting eggs.
That’s the idea behind the bornlearning™ public engagement
campaign which kicked off in November, 2007 in conjunction with
the Vision 2015 Champions For Education Summit. The goal is
to provide parents, grandparents and caregivers with easy, concrete
“action steps” they can take during everyday activities to enrich
early learning.
The reality is that children are learning constantly, right
from birth. We know what happens in a child’s early years matters,
and that adults in their lives can provide loving, nurturing
support in very simple ways to build a strong foundation for
school success.
The local campaign is part of a national effort, led by United
Way, the Ad Council and Civitas. Since its nationwide launch
in 2005, the campaign has garnered more than $92.5 million in
donated media and generated more than 4.4 billion household
impressions via public service advertising and the Web site
www.bornlearning.org.
Here in Northern Kentucky we’re working to distribute educational
materials, enhance existing public service advertising and provide
workplace toolkits of materials to local corporate partners.
Why are we doing this? Far too many children in our community,
mostly those living in families that are not economically stable,
are at a disadvantage before they even enter kindergarten. Their
language and literacy skills and their social competencies lag
behind what is needed to ensure success.
United Way invests in several strategies addressing children’s
school readiness and is leading efforts to increase access to
early intervention and early learning through our Success By
6 initiative. It’s a proven fact that quality early learning
in the first few years is a strong foundation for school success.
The 40-year High/Scope Perry Preschool study shows that investing
in early learning early on pays huge dividends later—in
reduced crime, fewer teen pregnancies, more high school graduates,
and more individual success in work and life.
What young children learn depends on the experiences they have
each and every day. At United Way, we see this as one of our
greatest challenges AND one of our greatest opportunities. bornlearning™
can help, by giving parents who don’t always know what to do
to encourage early learning, or don’t think they have the time
to do what it takes, easy, effective tools building on fun everyday
activities to create learning moments.
Vision 2015, Citi and all of our agency and community partners
are to be commended for stepping up to support quality early
learning as a foundation for ongoing education and life success.
We’re excited (insert agency partner name here) is joining
us in this effort. When this community works together, we can
do what matters most for our children.
Call United Way 211 (dial 2-1-1) to find out more, or how you
can get involved.
www.uwgc.org
Transition from Secondary Education to Postsecondary
Education and Work
Add & Subtract, Jobs for the Future, April 2005
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here for website
This policy primer for states provides an overview of dual enrollment
and a rationale for its expansion and guidelines (including
funding models) for states wishing to implement dual enrollment
for a wider range of students. Brief case studies highlight
substantial dual enrollment programs that serve a wide range
of students and offer lessons for an expanded mission for dual
enrollment.
Aligned Expectations, Achieve, Inc., April 2007
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website
This report conducted by Achieve examines what admissions and
placement tests measure with recommendations for K-12 and higher
education policymakers.
Crisis at the Core, ACT, 2005
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here for website
ACT discusses the crisis of under-prepared students entering
college and the workforce. This study reveals the relationship
between the rigorous, challenging courses taken in high school
compared to the readiness of students for college and the workforce.
The urgency to create a well-defined core curriculum is necessary
to meet the goal of preparing students for their futures in
academics and the workforce.
Securing Kentucky’s Future: A Plan for Improving College
Readiness and Success, Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education,
February 2007
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here for website
A report created by the Developmental Education Task Force outlines
six core recommendations to meet the challenges facing Kentucky
postsecondary education. Kentucky must reduce the number of
under-prepared postsecondary students and increase the effectiveness
of its programs to help students. A timeline is provided for
the implementation of recommendations.
The College Ladder, American Youth Policy Forum, September
2006
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here for website
This report is a two year effort conducted to “identify,
summarize, and analyze schools, programs and policies that link
secondary and postsecondary education to help students earn
college credit or take college level courses.”
Business Involvement in Education
Business Forum on Kentucky Education, Prichard Committee,
August 2005
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here for website
This article discusses principles and recommendations developed
by business and civic leaders to recognize the importance of
Kentucky’s educational system and its relationship to
citizens and the state. An effort to create a world class education
system is necessary and the state’s business community
needs to be leading this effort.
Early Childhood
Effects of Five State Prekindergarten Programs on Early
Learning, National Institute for Early Education Research, 2007
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here for website
This NIEER study of high-quality prekindergarten programs in
five states reveals significant improvement in children's early
language, literacy and mathematical development, producing somewhat
larger average estimated effects than the national randomized
trial of the Head Start program… The study finds that
children attending state-funded pre-K programs in the five states
(Michigan, New Jersey, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and West Virginia)
gained significantly regardless of ethnic background or economic
circumstances.
Preschool in Kentucky: Current Status and Future Trends,
Kentucky Long Term Policy Research Center, October 2007
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here for website
Preschool education plays a role in determining a child’s
school readiness. Those who receive excellent preschool education
are reported “… to be healthier, more economically
self-sufficient, and less likely to engage is criminal activity
than their cohorts.”
Strong Start KY: Investing in Quality Early Care and Education
to Ensure Future Success, Prichard Committee, October 2007
Clcik here for
website
Early childhood experiences are critical to strong brain development,
and they contribute to a higher quality of life for children
as they become adults. This research—coupled with the
personal experiences of Kentuckians—provides the foundation
of evidence for Strong Start Kentucky, an initiative of the
Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence.
The State of Preschool 2006, National Institute for Early
Education Research, 2006
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here for website
This national profile provides state-funded prekindergarten
data for 38 states across the United States in the 2005-2006
academic. The data includes information on access, resources,
and quality standards.
We Can Do Better: NACCRRA’s Ranking of State Child
Care Center Standards and Oversight, National Association of
Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies, 2007
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here for website
The report ranks every state and the Department of Defense (which
has its own child care system) on 15 basic criteria related
to their current child care center standards and oversight.
The results underscore the need to improve the quality of child
care across the nation.
General Education Reform
Educating School Teachers, The Education Schools
Project, September 2006
Clcik
here for website
This study conducted by Arthur Levine reveals that a majority
of teacher education graduates come from universities that have
low admission and graduation standards. Teacher education programs
are clinging to outdated, flawed visions of education. A nine-point
template is offered to judge the quality of teacher education
programs.
Gaining Traction, Gaining Ground, The Education Trust, November
2005
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here for website.
A comparison of four “high-impact” schools to three
average impact schools was conducted to discover what high-impact
schools do differently than the average schools. The study looks
at five different areas: culture, academic core, support, teachers,
time and other resources.
Inside the Black Box, Prichard Committee, February
2005
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here for website
Research provides evidence of high poverty/high performing Kentucky
schools, which defy the common assumption that a child’s
background determines the outcome of their achievement in education.
Making Middle Grades Work, Southern Regional Education Board,
2006
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here for website
This is a brochure is about creating a design the will enhance
school achievement. Some key aspects to improving student achievement
are: academic core curriculum, a belief that the student matters,
high expectations, engaging classroom practices.
Tough Choices, Tough Times, National Center on Education
And The Economy, 2007
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here for website
This report addresses the challenges and threats that our country
faces if major changes are not made in our educational system.
The report provides a specific road map for transforming all
levels of education – preschool through postsecondary
– in structure, curriculum teacher compensation, and policy.
The entire report was published in book form by Jossey-Bass
and is available through bookstores, www.jossey-bass.com
and other internet book retailers.
Kentucky State Reports and Report Cards
Measuring Up 2006- The State Report Card on Higher Education,
The National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education,
2006
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here for website
A state report card provides information to the public as well
as policymakers to improve postsecondary education. States are
graded in six overall performance categories: Preparation, Participation,
Affordability, Completion, Benefits, and Learning. Check out
this article to see how Kentucky measures up to the rest of
the nation.
Kentucky’s Policy to Practice: Transitioning Low-Skilled
and Low-Income Students, COABE Annual Conference, May 2005
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here for website
This powerpoint presentation provides statistics regarding Kentucky
education, explaining why low-income and adult education students
should be targeted for improvement.
Leaders and Laggards: A State-by-State Report Card on Educational
Effectiveness,
U.S. Chamber of Commerce, 2007
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here for website
This report card from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce grades states
in categories such as: Academic Achievement, Return on Investment,
and Postsecondary and Workforce Readiness.
Quality Counts 2007 From Cradle to Career; Connecting American
Education From Birth Through Adulthood, Editorial Projects in
Education, January 2007
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here for website
Quality Counts 2007 examines the state of state educational
policymaking using a unique combination of original state data
and in-depth journalism, to which we have added commentaries
by leading experts in the field. But this 11th edition –
From Cradle to Career: Connecting American Education From Birth
Through Adulthood – begins to track state efforts to create
a more seamless education system by looking at performance across
the various sectors, and at state attempts to define students’
“readiness” to succeed from one stage to the next.
STEM
Kentucky’s Science Technology Engineering Mathematics
Imperative
Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education, March 2007
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here for website
Members of the Council on Postsecondary Education (CPE) Science,
Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Task Force developed
“a statewide P-20 strategic action plan to accelerate
Kentucky’s performance within the STEM disciplines.”
The discussed recommendations create a comprehensive plan for
change.
Parent/Family Engagement
The Missing Piece of the Proficiency Puzzle, Kentucky Department
of Education, June 2007
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here for website
The Commissioner’s Parent Advisory Board (CPAC) strongly
recommends that Kentucky become the first state in the nation
to set a standard for family and community involvement that
is focused on improving student achievement. This standard includes
six objectives designed to involve families and the community
to improve student achievement, so that our state will meet
its goal of all children reaching proficiency by 2014 and thereafter.
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