Secretary Arne Duncan on Early Learning

U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan says this about early childhood education. " It's easily the best investment we can make." Watch the video for more.

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Step Up and Act for Children

Step Up and Act for Children event highlights the needs of North Carolina's children and calls on lawmakers to invest in children. Advocates, parents, children, service providers and concerned community members will call on lawmakers at the local, state and...

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Read for the Record

Today is Jumpstart’s Read for the Record©--a world record breaking campaign that brings children and adults together to read the same book, on the same day, in homes and communities all over the world. The campaign also kicks off...

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Experts Propose Game-Changing Ideas to Improve the Lives of Children

Each week during the month of October, First Focus will release a selection of papers from its new series entitled, Big Ideas: Game-Changers for Children. In an effort to generate new and innovative ideas to improve child well-being in the...

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A Fresh Start: Leveling the playing field before school begins

Governor Jim Hunt participated in NBC's Education Nation panel, A Fresh Start: Leveling the playing field before school begins. "I'm proud of Smart Start which begins at birth," the Governor emphasized! (We are too!) Education  Nation noted, "The Federal government invests...

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Experiences in the Womb

A new book by Annie Murphy Paul is generating lots of talk. The title pretty much tells the story: Origins: How the Nine Months Before Birth Shape the Rest of Our Lives. On September 30th, the Diane Rehm Show hosted the...

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Children overrepresented among ranks of the very poor

Since 1974, no age group has had a higher percentage of people living in poverty than children. New data released by the U.S. Census Bureau revealed increased child poverty rates in 46 states and the District of Columbia. Further, when...

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Jennifer's Story

“I’m a lead teacher in the 4-year old room at McGill Child Development Center. I wanted to go back to school to study early education, but knew that time and money would be a challenge. But, the Smart Start...

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Jackie's Story

“One thing we’ve learned through the NAP SACC program is that birthday parties don’t have to be centered on cupcakes, ice cream and juice. For celebrations, we now ask parents to bring healthy food options like low-fat yogurt,...

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New ECE Finance Website

The Alliance for Early Childhood Finance announces the launch of its new, re-designed website, www.earlychildhoodfinance.org.  The site is organized around the four pillars of the0rganization's work – ECE Finance (including strategies and cost modeling), ECE Policy, Quality Rating and Improvement Systems, and...

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