Latest News
February 5, 2018
New Healthy Early Development Tools from the CDC
In an effort to encourage parents and providers to learn the signs of and monitor the healthy development of young children and take action when there is a concern, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) launched their Learn the Signs. Act Early. Campaign, which provides free developmental milestone checklists, tips, and tools, including […]
January 23, 2018
CHIP program funded for six years
After three days of a government shutdown, federal lawmakers signed a short-term spending bill on January 22, 2018 that reauthorizes and funds the Child Health Insurance Program (CHIP) for six years. When CHIP expired in September, it put health care services at-risk for more than 9 million low-income children and pregnant women who do not […]
December 20, 2017
Head Start keeps children from entering foster care
New research adds to previous findings about the benefits of Head Start programs for young children, showing children are 93% less likely to end up in foster care. “New evidence suggests Head Start not only helps kids develop and allows parents to go to work, but it may also help at-risk kids from ending up […]
December 4, 2017
ACS Client Addresses Critical Early Childhood Workforce Issues and Empowers a Profession Child
A recent article appears in Slate as part of its Better Life Lab series that address challenges around advanced degrees for early childhood professionals. As states across the country are increasing the postsecondary degree requirements of early childhood providers, its causing parents everywhere sit back and reflect on what their children need in the classroom. […]
November 20, 2017
Ohio to Receive $35 Million Child Literacy Grant
The Associated Press reported that the Ohio Department of Education has awarded Ohio a Striving Readers Comprehensive Literacy Grant. The grant is for $35 million over three years that will target language and literacy development for early childhood-grade 12 students with a special focus on vulnerable students. According to state education officials, students living in […]
November 6, 2017
National League of Cities Features ACS client as model to Address Hunger and Food Waste in Central Ohio
The National League of Cities (NLC) reported on the City of Columbus’ and greater Franklin County’s coordinated efforts to increase residents’ access to healthy food and efforts to minimize food waste. As the report argues with compelling statistical evidence, Franklin County is a microcosm for the national trends of healthy food access and of food […]
October 9, 2017
Impacting Third Grade Reading Proficiency: What Works and What Does it Mean?
The North Carolina Early Childhood Foundation and the Institute for Child Success recently released a new resource for states and communities, What Works for Third Grade Reading. As an educational tool for the North Carolina Pathways to Grade-Level Reading (Pathways) initiative, this collection of 12 working papers addresses each of Pathways’ whole-child, birth-to-age-eight Measures of Success […]
September 27, 2017
Children’s Healthcare Insurance Program (CHIP) Must Reauthorize By End of September
The deadline for extending federal funding for the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) draws near at the end of September. Although no reauthorization from Congress has yet occurred, a bi-partisan agreement to extend CHIP was announced by two senators last week. Chairman of the Finance Committee Senator Orrin G. Hatch of Utah (R), and Senator […]
September 18, 2017
Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) State Plans Due Today: Much to Watch in Coming Months
The deadline for states’ ESSA plans is today, September 18, 2017. The 34 states that did not submit their ESSA plans in April are expected to submit by this deadline. The United States Department of Education (USDOE) Secretary DeVos has already received ESSA plans from sixteen states and the District of Columbia, which submitted their […]
August 28, 2017
A New Kind of Tech Job Emphasizes Skills, Not a College Degree
Nearly two-thirds of Americans do not have a four-year college degree, but a new class of “middle-skill” or “new-collar” jobs in the technology, healthcare, and advanced manufacturing industries are giving many Americans an opportunity to obtain a middle-class lifestyle with shorter, less expensive training programs. A recent article in The New York Times looked at […]