ECTA
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eNotes
A News Service from the Early Childhood Technical Assistance Center
Current and past issues of eNotes can be viewed and searched online at http://www.ectacenter.org/enotes/enotes.asp
ECTA
Center
eNotes
The Personnel Improvement Center (PIC) is now accepting applications for intensive technical assistance services to states that will begin October 1, 2011. The PIC offers these services to State Education Agencies and Part C Lead Agencies to increase their capacity to recruit and retain early intervention, special education and related services personnel. The deadline to submit an application is September 22, 2011. The complete application packet is available at http://personnelcenter.org/documents/State%20Application%20Packet.pdf
The PIC will conduct an information webinar on August 25, 2011 at 4 p.m. EDT for those considering an application. For additional information, contact Dr. Phoebe Gillespie, Personnel Improvement Center Director, at 703-519-3800 ext. 337 or phoebe.gillespie@nasdse.org
The Results Matter Video Project has added two new sections and posted more than 30 new videos to their free Video Library. You can watch the clips online or download them for use in activities such as professional development, team meetings, observation practice, and parent orientation. To learn more, go to http://www.cde.state.co.us/resultsmatter/RMVideoSeries.htm#top. Some highlights include:
The National Professional Center on Inclusion (NPDCI) has released a concept paper identifying issues and providing guidance to states as they develop early educator competencies in the context of inclusion. Key issues include ensuring competencies reflect emerging research on effective practices for working in inclusive settings with children with and without disabilities, as well as linking early educator competencies with quality professional development opportunities, accountability systems, and other components of a comprehensive early childhood system. Competencies for Early Childhood Educators in the Context of Inclusion: Guidance and Issues for States (2011) is available online at http://npdci.fpg.unc.edu/resources/articles/NPDCI-Competencies-8-2-2011
CONNECT: The Center to Mobilize Early Childhood Knowledge has released a new, free CONNECT Module on dialogic reading practices. Meet Tenisha, a pre-K teacher who notices that some children are not paying attention during storybook reading, and learn how she implements dialogic reading practices to engage the children and help them develop language and literacy skills. CONNECT Modules are free online modules that include high quality videos, handouts and activities based on real life, practice-focused dilemmas.
On August 17, 2011, the Annie E. Casey Foundation released the 2011 KIDS COUNT Data Book, which provides the most current information about 10 key measures of child well-being over the last twenty years. This year's report looks at how the recession and the job and foreclosure crises have affected children and families, showing that the number of children living below the child poverty rate increased 18% between 2000 and 2009. The report also shows that in 2009, 42% of the nation's children lived in households struggling to make ends meet. Nearly 8 million children lived with at least one parent who was actively seeking employment but was unemployed in 2010, which is double the number in 2007. To download the full report, view national and state profiles, or read a summary, go to http://datacenter.kidscount.org/DataBook/2011/Default.aspx