Other Events of Interest

• Maryland Committee for Children will host a number of trainings for early care and education providers. For more information contact the Maryland Committee for Children.
• Maryland Public Television holds Ready to Grow workshops for child care providers.  Use the on-line registration for more information or call 800.223.3678

Preceedings of Past Events

• Converstions to Make the Most of Early Childhood Education. Kimberly Oliver, Maryland and National Teacher of the Year, believes that quality teachers can raise student achievement for disadvantage students. She reinforced the need to support the entire family emphasizing how a positive early learning experience can outweigh the effects of race, poverty and language barriers. Oliver urged Symposium participants to create a culture of excellence by committing to equity and expectations and building a sound foundation for all young children. Robert C. Pianta, Director of the Center for the Advanced Study of Teaching and Learning at the University of Virginia, stressed the critical importance of classroom observations by noticing the experiences of children in early childhood settings; determining how these interactions and experiences matter for children and ways in which the richness and quality of experiences in classroom can be improved through observing relationships and interactions. He focused on three aspects of professional development - emotional support, instruction support and organization management, illustrating how student achievement is increased where teacher-child interactions and relationships are supported and reinforced. Click here to review Dr.  Pianta's powerpoint presentation.

• The Building Blocks of Mathematics. Dr. Doug Clements captivated the sellout audience by emphasizing the critical importance of implementing a research-based integrated mathematics curriculum for young children. Clements maintains this can be achieved by providing sustained time on fewer key concepts and focusing on a cohesive cluster of related ideas, concepts, skills and procedures that form the foundation for higher-level mathematics. For prek children that includes: Number and operations (developing understanding of whole numbers, including correspondence, counting, cardinally and comparison; Geometry (identifying shapes and describing spatial relationships) and Measurement (identifying attributes and comparing objects using the attributes.) Click here to review the data-based powerpoint presentation.

• Collaboration: The Essential Component to School Readiness. Collaboration is the key to a child's success in school.  Judy Jablon, a consultant, facilitator, educator and author, discussed ways that collaboration supports school readiness.  She provided techniques for improving communication and relationships with children and adults and identified strategies that create a culture of collaboration and positive relationships on the behalf of young children.  Ms. Jablon facilitated a participant led discussion on collaboration. Ms. Jablon's presentation is available. Also available are two articles written by Ms. Jablon: The Power of Observation and Using Engagement Strategies to Facilitate Children's Learning and Success.

• Exploring the Connection between Health and School Readiness. Dr. Judith Romano, a pediatrician and the early childhood spokesperson for American Academy of Pediatrics, made the connection between healthy young children and school readiness. She discussed how individuals and professionals can partner with pediatricians to maximize the development and health of young children.  She highlighted effective ways to talk about investing in young children as it relates to health and school readiness.  During the second half of the symposium, Dr. Romano facilitated a panel that included overviews of the Reach Out and Read Program and DocsForTots with panelist identifying promising practices and programs that connect pediatricians, the broader health community and the early childhood community. Dr. Romano's presentation is now available.

• Ready To Read: Families are Fundamental.  Children’s literacy levels are strongly linked to the educational level of their parents.   Many parents lack basic literacy skills in order to be involved in their child's education.  Family Literacy programs and services provide a unique way to address these challanges.  Children who participate in family literacy programs make gains three times greater than would have been expected based on their pre-enrollment rate of development.  Adults who participate remain enrolled longer than those in adult-only programs, and 43% become employed, compared with 14% before enrolling. Sharon Darling, President and Founder, National Center for Family Literacy offered cutting-edge research on Family Literacy and information on national models. 

• The Building Blocks of Early Literacy.  Dr. Timothy Shanahan, Professor, University of Illinois at Chicago and Director, the Center for Literacy presented the findings and recommendations from the National Early Literacy Panel and discussed the predictors of reading achievement, namely teaching the alphabetic code, book exploration, language development, parental involvement, and preschool experiences.  Dr. Shanahan's presentation is now available.

• Early Childhood Development: Economic Development with a High Public Return, featuring Arthur J. Rolnick, Senior Vice President and Director of Research, The Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis,  explored how early childhood development programs can be economic development initiatives, yielding high public returns as well as private returns.  For more information, review Rob Gurnewald's and Art Rolnick's paper, A Proposal for Achieving High Return on Early Childhood Development.  

• Building Cultural and Linguistic Competency for Families with Young Children, featuring Wendy Jones and Kathy Hepburn, National Center for Cultural Competence, Georgetown University, focused on designing programs and curriculia that are culturally competent and responsive to children and families learning the English language.  The data and findings presented during Wendy Jones' Keynote Address and presentations from the two workshops, Designing Culturally Compentent Policies led by Wendy Jones and Creating Culturally Competent Services led by Kathy Hepburn are available. During the full-day event, Ready At Five awarded its first annual Distinguished Performance Award to the Baltimore Leadership in Action Program.

• Empowering English Language Learners, featuring Dr. Betty A. Smallwood, Center for Applied Linguistics, focused on specific language and literacy strategies to improve school readiness of children learning English.
  

• Promoting Language & Literacy for Young Children from Diverse Backgrounds, the first in the 2004 series on meeting the language and literacy needs of every child, featured Dr. Nonie Lesaux, Associate Professor at Harvard University, Graduate School of Education. Click here to review the presentation or references.
  

• Roar Into Reading: Help Your Child Become a Reader, a special program for parents, featured the cast and creators of the acclaimed PBS Children's TV program Between the Lions. Leona Lion and Christopher Cerf, Co-Creator and Creative Producer lead the discussion on things parents can do with their children to improve language and literacy development. Click here for activities to build Language & Literacy skills.
  

• Fostering Emergent Literacy and School Readiness: Providing Balance and Best Practices featured Dr. Dorothy Strickland, Senior Research Fellow at the National Institute for Early Education Research at Rutgers University. Click here to review the session's abstract, including key scientifically based reading research findings and predictors of reading success.
  

• Costs and Benefits of Preschool Outlined at School Readiness Symposium!  Preschool: Not Just an Academic Investment featured Steven Barnett, Director, National Institute for Early Education Research at Rutgers University. Click here to review the data-based power point presentation.
  

• Investing in the Future featured Dr. Fran Bond, Director, Professional Development & Technical Assistance Center, Ready To Learn, PBS Click here to review the abstract.
  

• What's Ahead for Early Care and Education: Maryland's Role in Setting the Agenda featured Dr. Sharon Lynn Kagan, the Virginia and Leonard Marx Professor of Early Childhood and Family Policy at Teachers College, Columbia University and Senior Research Scientist at Yale University's Child Study Center. Click here to review the abstract.
  

• Jurisdictional Strategic Planning
  In 2002 and 2003 Ready At Five offered 4 jurisdictional strategic planning meetings. A Strategic Planning Guide is now available to help local communities conduct similar strategic planning meetings.