Latest News

ACS releases Infant and Toddler Messaging Guide

Early childhood advocates and supporters need a set of clear, compelling messages to differentiate infants and toddlers from traditional prekindergarten through grade 12 issues. Advocacy & Communication Solutions (ACS), in partnership with ZERO TO THREE, analyzed messages most often used for birth to age 3. The Infant and Toddler Message Guide provides explanation of when […]

ACS Helps Enhance Great Start Provider Recruitment

ACS Senior Associate Rebecca Cohen was a featured presenter at the Early Childhood Investment Corporation (ECIC) Training Institute that took place in Troy, Michigan on May 21. In her session, entitled “Reaching More Providers Through Promising Practices, Cohen helped 60 Great Start to Quality outreach specialists increase their confidence and competence in using Quality Rating […]

A Comprehensive Look at How Communities are Closing the School-to-Prison Pipeline

The notion of breaking the school-to-prison pipeline has been gaining a great deal of national attention recently and the conversation has gained traction. ACS’s new analysis, Better Than Zero: How alternative discipline is replacing zero tolerance to break the school-to-prison pipeline: Provides an overview of the current national conversation; Highlights a sample of state actions […]

Preschool Growth Steady, But Not Enough

Are we content to wait another 75 years to enroll 50% of our nation’s four-year-olds in high-quality pre-K? What about 150 years to enroll 70%? That’s the current pace of change, according to the newly-released annual State of Preschool Yearbook, from the National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER). Across the nation, only 29% of […]

PRE4CLE Honors First 90 Providers in Cleveland to be Part of High-Quality Preschool Expansion Efforts

In May 2015, PRE4CLE honored the first group of 90 early childhood education centers, Head Start programs and Cleveland Metropolitan School District preschools that have chosen to be a part of Cleveland’s preschool expansion initiative, which aims to provide high-quality preschool to all of Cleveland’s three and four-year-old children. “We want to acknowledge the commitment […]

Elevating Work for Boys and Young Men of Color

Team members Lori McClung and Rebecca Cohen are busy traversing the country to help grantees in the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Forward Promise initiative develop powerful communication strategies and outreach tools. Lori and Rebecca have led strategy sessions with Little Rock, Chicago, New Orleans, Minneapolis, and Phoenix. “ Much of what we are doing with […]

The Ohio 8 Coalition Testifies at the State House

On Wednesday May 13, 2015 David Romick, President of the Dayton Education Association presented The Ohio 8 Coalition‘s testimony on HB 64 to the Senate Finance Subcommittee on Education. The Ohio 8 Coalition’s testimony highlighted concerns and recommendations related to: Funding for special populations, Inclusion of transportation directors on the new Transportation Taskforce, School funding stability, […]

The Ohio 8 calls for school district representation to study current funding and policies related to student transportation

The Ohio 8 Coalition has long advocated for a special commission to study the best approach to ensure students are transported safely and efficiently, while addressing funding gaps and policies that drive costs up for every school district in Ohio. In her letter published April 29, 2015, in the Cincinnati Enquirer, Mary Ronan, Superintendent of […]

Study Shows Attachment Fosters Independence

Can early attachment lead to later independence? Yes, according to new research from the University of Minnesota. The results of the study were recently highlighted by The Brookings Institute, raising the profile of a long-held belief among early childhood specialists and practitioners: “secure attachment,” the critical early bond formed between infant and caregiver, has lifelong impact. The longitudinal […]

Creating an Effective Screening and Treatment System for Arizona’s Youngest Residents

Last week, ACS’s Heather Lenz led a group of Arizona’s early intervention stakeholders toward system coordination. Right now parents and families in Arizona face many barriers when it comes to identifying and addressing developmental delays in children from birth to age two. Things that should be simple – like finding information on screenings for hearing, vision, […]