Each Child. Every Community.

 The National Center for Research on Early Childhood Education has two new fact sheets available. Readiness for School Involves an Array of Skills: Let’s Not Forget Fine Motor Development "Interest in children’s success as readers has existed for a long time. With...

On October 5, the McDowell County Partnership for Children hosted a Candidate Forum. Candidates for almost every elected office attended. Here, several candidates answer these questions: In this time of economic crisis, how will you work to ensure that...

North Carolina Senator Doug Berger calls Smart Start an example of a program "that truly provide a significant service for our state" in his October newsletter. He writes: "It is an absolute responsibility of this State’s government to ensure that our...

Each week during the month of October, First Focus will release a selection of papers from our new series entitled, Big Ideas: Game-Changers for Children. The papers released this week propose ideas for Government Accountability, and include: Change in Sight: Child...

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.

A New America's Early Education Initiative sheds light on what's missing as states build data systems to analyze children's progress over time. "Many Missing Pieces: The Difficult Task of Linking Early Childhood Data and School-Based Data Systems," urges states...

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...

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...

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...

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...