What influences children’s intellectual development most?

According to a study published in the journal Child Development, it’s the combination of a family’s economic resources (aka income) and quality parenting that together influence a child’s intellectual development.

The study, conducted by the Center for Research on Culture, Development and Education in New York University, suggests that early childhood and parent education programs look at the combination of family income and parenting quality and offer services to address both. “Strengthening the quality of parenting should also include services aimed at improving family literacy and education, reducing parental stress, and providing high-quality child care,” says the study’s lead researcher Julieta Lugo-Gil in an article in Science Daily.

In other words, higher income does not necessarily equate with higher quality parenting.

Who supports the child care providers?

A sad story in Sunday’s Post-Dispatch shows the struggles both families and the informal child care arrangements so many employ face.

 

With family, friends and neighbors now the most common source of infant and toddler care, there has been a steady increase in Parents as Teachers home visiting programs who provide visits to care providers…both licensed and unlicensed, center-based and home-based.

In fact, Parents as Teachers National Center, the backbone of the nation’s largest parent education program, started offering training for parent educators doing just that: supporting care providers through personal visits and supporting infant/toddler care providers.

Karen Guskin, research director at Parents as Teachers National Center, and Kerry Caverly, director of Parents as Teachers Center for Professional Development, just returned from Head Start’s Ninth National Research Conference where current research is confirming that care providers are in need of  supporting networks and information about child development, health and safety, and activities to do with children. Who better to do that than Parent as Teachers programs?

A win/win in Arizona

There’s a great article in the Arizona Republic today by Carol Peck of the Rodel Foundation of Arizona about the Sunnyside Parents as Teachers program. She calls it the next best thing to an instruction manual for parents…and who couldn’t use that!

There’s a good reason this program has been around since 1995: Sunnyside Superintendent Manuel Isquierdo really ‘gets’ it when it comes to starting early. “Since education begins at home and parents are their child’s first teacher, supporting and education parents is a logical strategy,” he says in the article. 

Parents benefit…kids benefit…and I’m pretty sure his school district benefits, too. What could be better?

What can 14 states accomplish in 2 days for kids?

Fourteen states have been chosen to attend an innovative early childhood symposium at Harvard University next week. Sue Stepleton, president of Parents as Teachers National Center, is one of the representatives on the Missouri team.

What will these 14 teams of early childhood advocates be doing? The Center on the Developing Child (Harvard University), the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices, and the National Conference of State Legislatures who are co-sponsoring the symposium, hope they’ll identify some scientific advances in early childhood development and some evidence-based early care and education solutions that work. Sounds like a big job; kudos to these three groups for sponsoring the effort!

By the way, in addition to Missouri, Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Kansas, Louisiana, Michigan, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia and Washington will also be there.

The focus is on fathers this weekend

But why do dads get just one day of official recognition? I can’t imagine how different my life would have been without my father’s active encouragement, praise and continued presence. Not every child is so fortunate, I realize.

Kerry Caverly, director of our Center for Professional Development, has worked closely with the state of Missouri and a team of others to create an excellent guide for those who facilitate father groups learning to perfect their parenting skills. The best part? It’s available free for downloading on the Parents as Teachers National Center Web site (look for the Focus on Fathers button). What a gift to all dads this Father’s Day!

Listen in to your government at work

Today at 10 a.m. Eastern time, the Education and Labor Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives is holding a hearing on the Education Begins at Home Act. Julie Fenley, a Parents as Teachers participant at the Parents as Teachers Heroes at Home site in Norfolk will be a witness at the hearing, along with 5 other witnesses. You can listen to the hearing at  http://edlabor.house.gov/committee/schedule.shtml (on the right side of the page click on “live webcast”).

In case you don’t know, the Education Begins at Home Act is a piece of legislation that would provide a dedicated federal funding stream to help states establish or expand quality home viting programs like Parents as Teachers. If you’d like to show your support for this legislation, you can do so on our Web site at http://www.parentsasteachers.org/siteapps/advocacy/ActionItem.aspx?c=ekIRLcMZJxE&b=272301&aid=1246.

Ready for school? Yes, if you’ve been in Parents as Teachers!

One of my first jobs in college was for a university extension service where I wrote short summaries of theses and research for extension staff in the field. I was reminded of this when the Journal of Primary Prevention published a study by Zigler, Pfannenstiel and Seitz: “The Parents as Teachers Program and School Success: A Replication and Extension.”

Three things immediately jumped out at me.

First,  replication of results is the ultimate criterion for success. The fact that this study was able to replicate the positive results of an early study means the results are no fluke!

Secondly, the most important predictor of how well a child will do in third-grade is how ready he is for school when he enters kindergarten. But why worry about third grade? Because it serves as a sort of ‘marker’ for children: being a competent reader by third grade is one key indicator of academic success. Kids who do well in the early grades are more likely to graduate and, yes, go on to be successful in life. School readiness at kindergarten entry far outweighs other factors, such as age, gender, minority status—even poverty—in predicting third grade achievement. Do parents know this?!

Finally, Parents as Teachers was able to improve not only the school readiness of children in poverty but also of nonpoverty children. In other words, it worked for everyone! And while nothing will eliminate the so-called ‘achievement gap,’ Parents as Teachers participation sure came close.

So how do you get children to this level of school readiness? That’s what this study shows: Parents as Teachers improves school readiness not only through better parenting practices, but by also getting parents to read more to their children and by entrolling them in some sort of preschool program (both things that also increase school readiness).

This is ‘must-have’ information for all parents and ‘must act on’ information for policy-makers.

What you say & how you say it does make a difference!

Those of us in the early childhood field understand the importance of talking to children; beginning early, early on. We know what we say and how we say it is critically important to early literacy development. However, for many children most of what they hear from the adults in their lives are commands and demands.  “Pick up your toys” or ”Clean up that spill” and not enough problem-solving questions such as  “Where do we put our toys when we are finished playing?” and “What do we need to do now that the milk spilled?”  Look at the difference in the number of words in each of the exchanges. With problem solving questions, children are exposed to more words and the tone is more respectful.  Researchers Betty Hart and Todd Risley found these two elements do make a difference in literacy development and school success. Why is it that more parents and others who spend time with small children aren’t getting this message?  I came across an editorial in the Los Angeles Times that speaks to this issue.  Esther Jantzen proposes some very interesting strategies. What are your thoughts?

Of budgets, birthdays and blogs

The 94th Missouri General Assembly adjourned on Friday without approving Governor Blunt’s proposed $2 million increase for DESE-funded Parents as Teachers programs in the state. Shortly after he submitted his budget to the General Assembly in January, the revised state revenue estimates set the stage for difficult negotiations on the FY09 budget. And while we certainly would have welcomed the increase (which was to be used to enhance screening services and reimbursements) at least the funding remained level.

But the state budget shortfall also impacted other programs throughout state government, including the DESE professional development fund that supports education-related programs. DESE cut the Parents as Teachers professional development grant by 22% for FY09 which will have an impact on the professional development training we offer throughout the state and the technical assistance the National Center provides to programs.

2009 will be an important year for Parents as Teachers in Missouri. Not only will we be celebrating our 25th anniversary, but we will also be forging important relationships with new stakeholders, including a newly elected Governor and many key legislators. We need your help throughout the year to get the word out to your legislators about the effectiveness of Parents as Teachers and the critically important work you do with Missouri families throughout the year. Can we count on you? Tell us here in the blog what you’re doing and how we can help each other.

Funny what a little sun can do for the spirits

Maybe it’s because this is the first sunny day we’ve had in what seems like forever (!) but I just had the best conversation with Ed and Marisol! Marisol is the parent educator featured in my March 18 post about Spanish-speaking parents. She’s been doing an amazing job of getting the word out about this program in the Kansas City metro area. Today she brought together Ed Reyes, station manager with Reyes Media Group, and me to explore additional strategies. After all, she can’t do it by herself!

As a former PAT dad himself, Ed’s a strong supporter and had some excellent ideas. He’s also willing to share the ’sweat equity’ which gives him points with me!

We need more community players like this who are willing to step up and partner with Parents as Teachers National Center to help parents know who we are and what we can do for them.