News

Policy

Mayors urge Ron DeSantis to prioritize early learning

From Florida Politics: “Mayors from across the state are urging Gov. Ron DeSantis to double down on early childhood education so the state’s generation-in-waiting can achieve higher high school graduation rates and have access to a full slate of employment and postsecondary education opportunities.”

Policy

Florida mayors urge DeSantis to prioritize early education | Commentary

From Orlando Sentinel: “Getting children off to a good start is sound policy and wise investment in the future of a state we all love.”

Mentoring

Welcoming Older Adults into the Head Start Classroom

From Medium: “Encourage volunteers to share their skills and hobbies. Invite volunteers to connect their lives to children’s interest and your curriculum.”

Mentoring

Bridging more than just a reading gap

From Sarasota Herald-Tribune: “The mission of the Literacy Lab is to provide low-income children with individualized reading instruction to improve their literacy skills, leading to greater success in school and increased opportunities in life.”

Mentoring

Educating homeless parents on the importance of early childhood education

From The Philadelphia Inquirer: “According to child experts, early experiences of homelessness are associated with higher rates of developmental delays, poor academic achievement, asthma, attention problems, poor social and emotional functioning, acting out, and other difficulties.”

Mentoring

Acts of Kindness: Foster Grandparents Volunteer To Teach Students

From Star-Herald: “After dedicating their day to teaching the students, the foster grandparents feel a sense of pride as they watch the students interact with others in public for years.”

Mentoring

It Only Takes One Dedicated Mentor to Shape a Child’s Future

From Boca Raton Tribune: “If children are truly our future, then we adults owe them a helping hand in shaping it. We can do so through mentoring.”

Mentoring

Foster Grandparents Program Gives Children Love, Attention

From Reflector: “The children know these seasoned adults are not their teachers; they are their grandmas who take up extra time with them, teach them, give them hugs and welcome them onto their laps to read books.”

Mentoring

How San Antonio educators are bridging cultural gaps to involve parents

From San Antonio Express-News: “Educators across the country have emphasized parental engagement, because studies show students whose parents are involved outperform those whose parents do not appear engaged.”

Mentoring

Five Ways to Nurture Compassion in Kids

From Mind/Shift: “Do more than have conversations about being compassionate with your child, look for ways to act compassionately at home and in your community.”

Pre-K

How to Get Preschoolers to Share

From The New York Times Magazine: “To foster empathic behavior like sharing, helping and comforting others in a child, guide them into the inner world of feelings — their own and those of others.”

Mentoring

Foster grandparents volunteer and share their love at schools

From CBS News: “Wearing blue aprons and serving up hugs are six foster grandmothers working alongside the school’s teachers to help students succeed.”

Parenthood

Parents learn, babies talk: How coaching moms and dads improves infants' language skills

From Science Daily: “A new study shows that parents who learn how and why to speak ‘parentese’ can have a direct impact on their children’s vocabulary.”

Mentoring

Home visiting helps children and parents — more families could use it

From The Hill: “Home visiting typically serves families with children under age 6 not yet in kindergarten — from single parents juggling new responsibilities to teen parents completing high school. It can be an especially important lifeline for military families.”

Mentoring

‘A big balloon of joy’: D.C. grandparents give students mentors and themselves a purpose

From The Washington Post: “The Foster Grandparent Program aims to give seniors across the country a purpose in retirement by providing some of the neediest children with mentors and giving teachers help in the classroom.”

Child

David Lawrence Jr.: A Champion of Children and Our Community

From The Miami Herald: “He is a humble man who through gaining knowledge, taking action and persistence is a community champion and a warrior for children’s rights.”

Mentoring

Support Helping Children? Step Up and Volunteer Now

From The Tallahassee Democrat: “Do you love to read? Join the Reading Pals program and give that one-on-one attention that is so important for children struggling to read. ”

Parenthood

The Joy of Grandparenting

From The New York Times: “Those heroic grandparents actually raising their grandchildren. More than a million children live in their grandparents’ households without parents present, says the advocacy group Generations United. Grandparents who are distant, geographically or otherwise, probably also have different experiences.”

Pre-K

Home visits in early childhood provide benefits for students and schools

From Education Dive: “Home visits for families with young children in Florida’s largest county have dramatically reduced abuse and neglect, increased immunization rates to near 100%, reduced unwanted pregnancies and have cut sudden infant death syndrome cases in half.”

Mentoring

Dr. Dipesh Navsaria: Reading programs are really about supporting strong parent-child bonds

From The Capital Times: “I don’t object to programs that bring high-quality books into a child’s home, but that emphasis is often misplaced; the book itself does little if handed to a child without any other interaction. A child learns the magic and power of reading only when a loving, nurturing, responsive caregiver (usually a parent, but could be anyone) reads aloud with them. A book that sits on the shelf is useless — it only does its magic when open in the hands of a parent and child reading together.”