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UPDATES TO THE PRE-CONFERENCE PROGRAM:
"NESA Goes to Capitol Hill"
Scott B. Himelstein
November 1, 2002
9:00am - Noon
This Pre-Conference session will include a 1-hour briefing on current Even Start legislation followed by a visit to Capitol Hill, where participants will meet with staff and/or members of Congress representing their local areas. Scott Himelstein, Chairman of the National Even Start Association, will provide attendees with the latest information regarding Even Start Legislation as well as tips and talking points for meeting with members of Congress and their staff. This briefing will be followed by a trip to Capitol Hill where you will meet with your local Congressional office/staff. Our office staff will contact you to get the names of your Members of Congress.
"New Grantee Orientation"
Offered November 2, Repeated November 3, 2002
9:00am - 3:00pm
The third annual New Grantee Orientation is a full day intensive workshop, which introduces new and young program coordinators to the legislative, legal, management and instructional strategies needed to increase the likelihood of program success. The National Even Start Association, United States Department of Education and the National Center for Family Literacy jointly sponsor this workshop.
"Looking at Literacy through Social & Emotional Lenses: An Introduction to the Devereux Early Childhood Assessment (DECA) Program"
Linda L. Likins
November 2, 2002
1:00pm - 4:00pm
This Pre-Conference session will focus on introducing participants to a strength-based assessment system designed to promote the social and emotional well-being of preschoolers. The program, which is based on resilience theory, is centered around a standardized, strength-based assessment of within-child protective factors related to resilience. Participants will learn how to use the assessment as well as the assessment results to plan for changes in the early childhood and home settings that promote children's protective factors. Participants will learn how to "look through their social and emotional lenses and literacy lenses" so that everyday activities can be turned into learning opportunities for children. The strategies are clear and simple and take into account the time constraints that all families and teachers confront on a daily basis.
"Stories That Can Change The Way We Educate"
Patricia A. Edwards, Professor of Language and Literacy, Michigan State University
November 2, 2002
1:00pm - 4:00pm
In the first part of this presentation, Dr. Edwards will describe the development of Parents as Partners in Reading, and Talking Your Way to Literacy, programs she designed to assist illiterate and semiliterate parents in sharing books with their children. She will also describe how Parents as Partners in Reading and Talking Your Way to Literacy programs implemented in Donaldsonville, Louisiana affected parents, teachers, children and the larger community. The implications of the programs for literacy among youth will be addressed, as well as why connecting parents and youth to the school are reading curriculum is important. She will highlight the strengths of these programs, and describe some of the ways she plans to update them. The two updated programs will be published by The Learning Together Company (Greensboro, NC) and will be available for purchase in May 2003.
In the second part of this presentation, Dr. Edwards will examine the use of parent stories as a tool for understanding home and school literacies. In this discussion of parent stories, she will help conference participants to explore issues related to multiculturalism and the special needs of diverse learners and school-community relations. She will also provide conference participants with invaluable insights and opportunities to reflect on parent stories as a tool to reach students who may not share the same, ethnic, social or cultural background. This part of the presentation relates to her recent book (March 1999) published by Heinemann entitled A Path to Follow Learning to Listen to Parents. As part of her presentation, Dr. Edwards will discuss how a child's literacy history will help teachers build a classroom community of learners.
"Parenting Education Profile"
M. Christine Dwyer, Senior Vice President, RMC Research Corporation
November 3, 2002
9:00am- 3:00pm
(limited to the first 100 participants)
This session will introduce the Parenting Education Profile (PEP) that several states are now using to track the progress of parents in becoming supporters of children's literacy. The PEP is based on the research findings in the Department of Education's Parenting Framework, and provides a practical way to organize information about and understand parents' development in four key areas: the home environment, interactive literacy, relationships to education settings, and the role of parent. During the session participants will learn about the research that informs each subscale, learn how to use the instrument for staff development, and use simulation materials to make practice rating.
"Immigrant Families and Their Teachers: Creating Community from the Inside Out"
Gail Weinstein, Professor - San Francisco State University
November 3, 2002
9:00am - 3:00pm
This Institute will consist of four parts. In the morning, participants will receive an introduction to "Learners' Lives as Curriculum,"- a model for teaching and curriculum development that starts with adult learners' concerns about parenting and family life. We will begin with a hands-on workshop about how to collect and use learner stories in the fabric of family literacy curriculum. The second segment will focus on a larger curriculum framework, which builds on the principles behind the workshop. In the afternoon, participants will try their hand at writing a thematic unit, which could be used in their own program. Finally, materials written by other family literacy practitioners will be shared, along with tools to provide support for using, field-testing or writing learner-centered family literacy curriculum and/or materials. Participants will be invited to join a network of learner-centered family literacy practitioners who share materials and/or support one another in the challenging but joyful work of learner-centered education.
ADDITION TO CONFERENCE PROGRAM:
Tuesday, 9:45am-10:45am
Even Start Evaluator's Institute
Chris Dwyer, Senior Vice President, RMC Research Corporation
This special Evaluator's session will be presented by Chris Dwyer from RMC Research Corporation. The presenters will discuss the practical linkages between performance indicators, program standards and the required local evaluation with an emphasis on how to ensure that evaluation results are actually used for continuous improvement. Included in the session will be discussions and sharing of ways to focus evaluations on important questions that have pay-off in program improvements, ideas for organizing and presenting information to maximize utility and evaluation techniques and methods. Participants will be encouraged to share the approaches they have used in conducting Even Start Evaluations.
UPDATES TO CONFERENCE PROGRAM:
EVALUATOR'S INSTITUTE
Tuesday, 9:45am-10:45aM
What Evaluators Need to Know about the "New" Even Start
M. Christine Dwyer, Senior Vice President, RMC Research Corporation
Assistant Secretary Susan Neuman has described to Even Start State Coordinators her vision of the "new" Even Start--one that is more content focused, more accountable, and more outcome-oriented. In this Session, Chris Dwyer from RMC Research Corporation will discuss the implications for local evaluators of this new vision of Even Start. Topics include: outcomes for school-age children; disaggregation and interpretation of performance indicator data; key program indicators; assessing the quality of early childhood programs; the evaluator's role in championing program improvements. The group will discuss ways to improve the three parts of most local evaluations: description, outcomes, and focused inquiry.
AS PART OF A SPECIAL TUESDAY EMPHASIS ON LOCAL EVALUATION
Coordinated by Sue Henry & Christine Dwyer (full schedule posted to website at evenstart.org
INSTITUTE FOR LOCAL EVALUATORS
The No Child Left Behind Act moves Even Start to a new level --one that is more content focused, more accountable, and more outcome-oriented. During this Institute, Chris Dwyer will coordinate presentations by Even Start evaluators at the local, State, and National levels to discuss the implications for local Even Start evaluation. Topics include: outcomes for school-age children; disaggregation and interpretation of performance indicator data; key program indicators; assessing the quality of early childhood programs; the evaluator's role in championing program improvements. Throughout the day ways to improve the three parts of most local evaluations: description, outcomes, and focused inquiry will be discussed
FOR YOUR INFORMATION:
PARKING IS $26 PER DAY.
THE METRO IS ONE BLOCK AWAY FROM THE HOTEL.
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