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 Colorado Department of Education's Results Matter Program has been facilitating learning communities of early childhood educators, special educators, and early intervention providers who are using video to enhance their work. The Video Library provides illustrations of their work and clips of children participating in typical activities that can be used for practicing observation, documentation, and assessment skills in professional development programs. Over 20 new videos have recently been added and can be watched the online or downloaded for free clips at http://www.cde.state.co.us/resultsmatter/RMVideoSeries.htm Two of the new additions include:
The Personnel Improvement Center (PIC) recently published a practice brief that provides a variety of recruitment and retention strategies to help states and local programs address personnel shortages in early intervention. Recruitment and Retention of Qualified Early Intervention (EI) Professionals (Winter 2011), by Eve Müller, is available online at http://personnelcenter.org/documents/Recruitment%20and%20Rention%20of%20Qualified%20Early%20Intervention%20Personnel-final.pdf
New findings from a cost-benefit analysis funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) evaluating the effectiveness of the Chicago Public Schools' federally funded Child-Parent Centers (CPCs) shows $4 to $11 of economic benefits over a child's lifetime for every dollar initially spent on the program. The greatest benefits were realized among those who joined the program earliest. To learn more, see the press release at http://www.nih.gov/news/health/feb2011/nichd-04.htm
The Office of Head Start has published new online homelessness lessons designed to help programs increase awareness of and outreach to young children and families who may be experiencing homelessness. They are available online at http://eclkc.ohs.acf.hhs.gov/hslc/tta-system/family/Family%20and%20Community%20Partnerships/Crisis%20Support/Homelessness/homelessness.html
This month, the Children's Bureau Express spotlights young children involved with child welfare, including the intersection of child welfare with related services that impact young children and their families, such as substance use, child care, family strengthening, and more. It is available online at http://cbexpress.acf.hhs.gov/index.cfm?event=website.viewSection&issueID=123&subsectionID=31. Articles include:
The Center for Early Literacy Learning (CELL) has published two new CELLvideos: Tune In ( http://www.earlyliteracylearning.org/tune_in.php) and Get in Step With Responsive Teaching ( http://www.earlyliteracylearning.org/get_in_step_with_resp_teach.php). These videos focus on developing adult-child interactions that will boost literacy development. CELL is funded by the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs, Research to Practice Division and is a major initiative of the Center for Evidence-Based Practices at the Orelena Hawks Puckett Institute.
The Children's Defense Fund has released new factsheets providing key state and national data presented in a concise uniform format regarding poverty, health, hunger, child welfare, early childhood development, education and youth at risk for children in each state. Data are the most current available as of January 2011. They can be accessed online at http://www.childrensdefense.org/child-research-data-publications/data/state-data-repository/cits/2011/children-in-the-states-factsheets.html
The Commonwealth Fund has published its annual scorecard of states' performance on 20 key indicators of children's health care access, affordability of care, prevention and treatment, the potential to lead healthy lives, and health system equity. Securing a Healthy Future: The Commonwealth Fund State Scorecard on Child Health System Performance, 2011 finds that some states do significantly better than others in ensuring that all children are on course to lead healthy and productive lives. It is available online at http://www.commonwealthfund.org/Publications/Fund-Reports/2011/Feb/State-Scorecard-Child-Health.aspx