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What Does High-Quality Early Education Look Like?

What Does Quality in Early Education Look Like? Lots of books for infants, toddlers and preschoolers. Creative, free form art materials and activities available in the classroom for children to explore. Play. Play. Children laughing, pretending, imagining and interacting with their friends & teachers. A daily routine & activities that engage children in science, technology, […]

Historic Day for Early Education

The Governor and First Lady announced a $94.8 million dollar budget package at the ACCA Child Development Center for early education, the largest ever investment in Virginia’s early childhood education system. Priority areas for the proposed funding include increased access, equity, quality and impact for young children. WE wanted you to hear it first from […]

Join the $1,000 Club

Every year we turn away over 30 families who have applied for a scholarship to The New E3 School. These families desperately want to give their child the gift of a high-quality early education, but they cannot afford it. The achievement and readiness gaps begin as early as six months of age. The earlier children […]

Building Brains in Young Children

I did not allow my children to use technology until they were three and four-years-old. It was not easy to make this decision as a parent, but because I read so much about brain development in young children, I knew that it would be best to wait.  There would be plenty of time down the […]

Child Care Subsidy – Improvements and Alternatives

The Child Care Development Block Grant (CCDBG) is federal funding provided to the states aimed at expanding access to high quality child care for low income families.  In 2018 Congress increased discretionary funding for the CCDBG by over $2billion – the largest increase in years.  Child Trends provides an overview of how states are using the […]

Let Children Play

A recent article in the New York Times entitled Taking Playtime Seriously and a 2018 American Academy of Pediatrics study remind us of the importance of play. Both the article and study emphasize playful learning as critically important for the developing child. Other countries like China and Finland are shifting away from over-testing, academic rankings and high-achievement to […]

The Generational Impact of High Quality Early Education

Sixty years ago, The Perry Preschool Project aimed to study the lifetime impacts of high quality early education experiences.  The participants in the study were socioecomically and developmentally disadvantaged African American children.  The 123 participants were ages 3-4 and all had below average IQ scores. They were enrolled in a two-year high quality early learning program […]

Preschool Expulsion, A Parent’s Perspective

  “…and so, I have to give you an official two weeks notice.” There it was; the culmination of a rocky few weeks at school for my daughter, Madison. I’d been pulled aside three separate times in the last two weeks by the school director. And now she was given two weeks to change her […]

Mindfulness Linked to Children’s Ability to Regulate Feelings & Emotions

Mindfulness is maintaining a moment-by-moment awareness of your thoughts, feelings and bodies. Research tells us that yoga practice in early childhood and elementary classrooms teaches children self-awareness, breathing techniques, how to deal with stress and mindfulness. The most recent research conducted in elementary schools found that students who were part of a 12-week practice 4x […]

April Showers

What if all children in Western Tidewater had the educational experiences they need to become successful in school and in life?  That is the question the UVA CASTL team is working hard each day to find the answer to. In our state, millions of dollars from private and public funds have been invested in early […]

Expulsion is NOT the Answer

  Everyday early educators work with children who exhibit behaviors that are difficult to deal with. Our early childhood programs and teachers are struggling to meet the needs of children who have disabilities, mental health issues, challenging behavior and social-emotional skills that are still being developed. Did you know that?: Children in Pre-k are expelled […]

It’s Opening Day

When you play or watch baseball, you are seeing STREAM (science, technology, reading, engineering, arts and math) in action! Both of my boys are baseball fans (one loves the Yankees and the other is a Red Sox fan). When I asked my younger son if he wanted to play baseball, he replied, “ Do you […]

Job Turnover in Early Education

The turnover rate among early education program staff in the U.S. is 30%.  High turnover rates can impact program quality and affect children. Studies show that frequent turnover among early educators prevents children from developing secure attachments with their teachers and can negatively impact children’s social and emotional skills as well as their language development. It […]

Governor’s Year in Review Featuring The New E3 School

[su_row][su_column size=”1/3″ center=”no” class=””][/su_column] [su_column size=”1/3″ center=”no” class=””][/su_column] [su_column size=”1/3″ center=”no” class=””][/su_column][/su_row] Many of you were with us when we launched WE3: Women Elevating Early Education last spring.  The First Lady of Virginia, Pamela Northam was with us at The New E3 School to kick off the initiative. Governor Northam’s Year in Review will be […]

Early Education Data Integration

The increased ability to gather and use data is one of the most important developments the education world has seen.  To best serve our children, states must be able to answer important questions about the long- and short-terms outcomes of the programs and services they provide. Early childhood education data, combined with data from home visiting […]
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