“Following West Virginia’s Lead, Arizona Teachers Protest Low Pay, Discuss Striking,” (Teacher Beat) March 7, 2018.
Social and Emotional Skills
The University of Oregon’s Institute on Violence and Destructive Behavior has been awarded a $1.25 million federal grant to help children in Oregon Head Start programs learn positive social and emotional skills.
With the five-year grant, the institute will become the newest of eight Head Start Quality Research Centers throughout the country. Others sites include Teachers College, Columbia University in New York City and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Using First Step to Success, an intervention program developed by researchers at the University of Oregon, the institute will begin working with Head Start preschool programs in the state. The model will then be available to Head Start programs nationwide.
“In addition to academic preparation, young children need to have certain social and emotional skills to transition successfully into school,” said Hill Walker, a co-director of the institute.
First Step, which was originally designed for elementary- school-age children, emphasizes positive reinforcement of good behavior and involves children’s parents, teachers, and peers.
The program is used in elementary schools throughout Oregon and in 13 other states.
Child-Care Accreditation
A Cincinnati-based nonprofit organization has been awarded $1.7 million to help child-care centers and family child-care homes in California earn accreditation.
Rise Learning Solutions, which produces distance-learning programs for those who work with children and families, will produce video and CD-ROM training materials for up to 370 child-care centers and about 900 family child-care providers that are part of a new accreditation initiative in California.
The programs will feature examples of high-quality learning experiences for young children and other criteria for accreditation.
Depending on the type of program they offer, child-care providers in California will be seeking accreditation from one of three organizations: the National Association for the Education of Young Children, the National School-Age Care Association, or the National Association of Family Child Care.
The California Association for the Education of Young Children, an affiliate of the NAEYC, has been chosen by the state education department to lead the new accreditation project.
—Linda Jacobson
