DOCUMENT RESUME ED 445 783 PS 028 817 Head, Heart, and Hands for Our Youngest Children. TITLE Southeastern Regional Vision for Education (SERVE), 'INSTITUTION Tallahassee, FL. SPONS AGENCY Office of Educational Research and Improvement (ED), Washington, DC. PUB DATE 1998-00-00 22p.; Associated with the School of Education, University of NOTE North Carolina at Greensboro. CONTRACT RJ96006701 AVAILABLE FROM SERVE, 1203 Governor's Square Blvd., Suite 400, Tallahassee, FL 32301; Tel: 800-352-6001 (Toll-Free); Fax: 850-671-6020 (Item No. ECHHH,$5 plus $2.50 shipping and handling. Non-exempt Florida residents must add 7% sales tax). PUB TYPE Descriptive (141) Reports EDRS PRICE MF01/PC01 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS Advocacy; Change Strategies; *Child Advocacy; *Emergent Literacy; *Infants; *Partnerships in Education; Program Descriptions; State Programs; *Toddlers IDENTIFIERS United States (Southeast) ABSTRACT This document details a strategy to bring together state and community leaders in the southeastern United States to establish dialogue, set priorities, and make system-wide changes for supporting literacy for the youngest children and their families. The Head, Heart, and Hands campaign has (1) Head--understanding research and best practices that three focal points: affect children's development and preparing them to enter school ready to (2) Heart--creating, spreading, and harnessing the will and commitment learn; to nurture and support young children and families; and (3) Hands--working across disciplines to forge a strong, unified system of policies and programs. The document begins with suggestions for a campaign kick-off meeting, followed by a position paper outlining a rational for the campaign. The next four sections of the document address the following areas: (1) research evidence on brain development, parental nurturance, health and nutrition, quality child care, and literacy development; (2) the need for action, focusing on the risk level of children in southern states and the (3) core areas for action, presenting a impact of investing in the future; vision for supporting the families of infants and toddlers and describing effective programs in the southeast; and (4) suggested planning process, including a step-by-step process and a sample policy statement. The document concludes with information on the SERVE organization, which will act as a resource for state and community efforts in the campaign, and information on ordering SERVE products. (KB) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. qrt, qtici Hind Heqd, for Our Yourigr%t Children U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION Office of Educational Research and Improvement EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) This document has been reproduced as received from the person or organization originating it. Minor changes have been made to improve reproduction quality. Points of view or opinions stated in this document do not necessarily represent official OERI position or policy. BEST COPY AVAILABLE PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE AND DISSEMINATE THIS MATERIAL HAS 1 BEEN GRANTED BY C\(No.-c-\eS R\6_e_117.-NCLY1\-___ 0 South Eastern Regional SERVEing Young Children TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) Vision for Education Literacy Project Held, for Our Yost Children Coriterit Acknowledgments 2 Invitation to Join Head, Heart, and Hands for Our Youngest Children 3 Kick-off Meeting 4 Position Paper 5 Section 1: Research Evidence 7 Section 2: The Need for Action 8 Section 3: Core Areas for Action 10 Section 4: Suggested Planning Process 12 About the SERVE Organization 14 SERVE Products Ordering Information 16 1998 SERVE South Eastern Regional Vision for Education Associated with the School of Education University of North Carolina at Greensboro The content of this publication does not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the Office of Educational Research and Improvement, U.S. Department of Education, nor does mention of trade names, commercial products, or organizations imply endorsement by the U.S. Government. This document was produced with funding from the Office of Educational Research and Improvement, U.S. Department of Education, under contract no. RJ96006701. BEST COPY AVAILABLE 3 Acknozled.79rmertt Special thanks also to the following SERVE Special thanks to the following individuals who staff who contributed to the development provided information, feedback, and other and publication: assistance in the development of this document: Charles Ahearn, Director and Senior Editor, Rhonda Corley, Director of Early Childhood, Publications School District of Greenville County, Greenville, SC Lynn Amwake, Program Specialist, SERVEing Young Children Charles Couch, Principal, Astoria Park Elementary School, Tallahassee, FL Glyn Brown, Program Specialist, SERVEing Young Children Hannah Meadors, Early Childhood Consultant, Jackson, MS Stephen Chapman, Program Specialist, Publications Linda O'Connell, Executive Director, Family Service Center, Dothan, AL Christa Karantinos, Design Specialist, Publications Starr Stewart, Home Visitation Coordinator, Family Service Center, Dothan, AL Nancy Livesay, Program Director, SERVEing Young Children and Donna Nalley, Senior Program Specialist, Patty Molloy, Consultant Publications Lucy Wynn, Program Specialist, SERVEing Young Children 2 ,Jo Invitation t Held, fieqrt, n {; (iiiiouri07%-t arid KqndS for Children The research is clear and compelling. Children benefit their whole lives from the love, protection, stimulation, and support they receive during their first three years of life or they suffer from the lack of these experiences. Our babies are vulnerable. The opportunity to make a difference in an infant's life is tremendous, and time is precious. Head, Heart, and Hands for Our Youngest Children is an effort to bring state and community leaders together to dialogue, establish priorities, and make systemwide changes for supporting literacy for our youngest children and their families. There are three focal points of the campaign: Understanding the latest lieqd Working together, across Hands research and best practices disciplines, our goal is to forge that affect the healthy a strong, unified system of development of young policies and programs here in children and prepare them the Southeast to ensure that to enter school ready to all children have opportunities learn. We are sharing this to develop to their fullest information with an ever- potential and become literate widening group of child adults. advocates so that knowledge and awareness of these issues We invite you to join SERVE in forming a can effect systemic changes in Task Force on Family Literacy to work with policies and programs. state and community leaderseducators, pediatricians, nurses, business leaders, Creating, spreading, and legislators, leaders of religious and cultural fieqrt. harnessing the will and organizations, government agency commitment to nurture and representatives, child care providers, parents, support young children and grandparents, hospital staff, health and social their families in our region service practitioners, and otherswho are and within our communities. concerned with children's literacy. After We are using the shared extensive dialogue and development of commitment that emerges recommendations, we will advocate for. : from our outreach to make an systemwide policies and program immediate impact on the lives improvements to support all of the young of infants and toddlers. children and their families within our region. Please call SERVE at 800-352-6001 to learn more about how you can get involved in Head, Heart, and Hands for Our Youngest Children. BEST COPY AVAILABLE about key topics from the paper, such as brain Use the Invitation to Join to invite people to a development, child health, and/or kick-off meeting. Invitees will be asked to comprehensive services for children and serve on an advisory board, such as a Task families. Then, divide participants into work Force or Advisory Council, that will develop groups, discuss the paper, underscore issues policy recommendations about needed raised by the speakers, and begin to define the services and infrastructure. Invitees should work plan of the advisory board. include state and community leaders educators, pediatricians, nurses, business leaders, legislators, leaders of religious and Pose this question to the participants: cultural organizations, government agency representatives, child care providers, parents, grandparents, hospital staff, health and social Is the infrastructure in your service practitioners, and otherswho are state or'communitY really concerned with children's growth and development. doing the job_iniiving the most effective and systematic services and information to parents and their newborns. At the kick-off meeting (or perhaps prior to it), (up to kindergarten)? all participants should receive a copy of the position paper. It will ensure that everyone shares an understanding of the issues. Have several guest speakers, perhaps experts from within the state, talk briefly (20-30 minutes) EST COPY AVAILABLE er "Poitiorl Attending to all areas of child How individuals function from the preschool developmentsocial, emotional, physical, years all the way through adolescence and even cultural, cognitive, aesthetic, and language adulthood hinges to a significant extent on their experiences before the age of three. Researchers Supporting the development of secure have thoroughly documented the importance of relationships between children and their the pre- and postnatal months and the first three parents and, when children are cared for by years, but a wide gap remains between scientific others, sustained relationships with knowledge and social policy. primary caregivers The Report of the Carnegie Task Force While these measures have proven successful on Meeting the Needs of Young Children on a small scale, they are only available to few, much less all, of our children. Many A babya new lifesymbolizes hope and. states lack the policies and infrastructure promise. Yet, in the Southeast, the facts about needed to ensure infant health and well- our infants and toddlers paint a profoundly beinga comprehensive, coordinated system different picture. On many counts, the South of care and services. ranks nearly the poorest in the nation in terms of conditions for children and families, This paper suggests a course of action for including infant mortality, low-birthweight state and community leaders across the babies, higher rates of babies born to Southeast to remedy this situation. Developed adolescent mothers, and literacy rates. by SERVE, a regional consortium of educational organizations, the paper serves three primary But there are glimmers of hope scattered purposes: across our region. Individual projects are demonstrating the effectiveness of special To raise awareness about new research programs, services, and outreach efforts. and best practices that have dramatically improved our understanding about the Family literacy efforts, such as Even Start and healthy development of infants and Early Head Start, are working with infants toddlers and underscore the critical and toddlers and their families. Lessons are importance of the first three years of life emerging about what works in promoting To identify ways that parents and child healthy child development, school readiness, advocates can ensure that infants and and family literacy. Some common factors toddlers experience nurturing activities include the following: that promote family literacy and school Beginning at birth with abundant nurturing readiness and supportive experiences for infants and To promote the development of an their parents, including home visiting, infrastructure in every SERVE state that mother-infant bonding classes, and health will ensure coordinated education, child care and adequate nutrition care, health, nutrition, and social services Promoting language-rich environments for all young children and their families in which infants and toddlers are read to daily 5 7 BEST COPY AVAILABLE SERVE will act as a resource to Head, Heart, This paper is envisioned as a starting point and Hands for Our Youngest Children so that for dialogue among policymakers and other your state or community's efforts will state and community leaders from a wide dovetail with concurrent national, state, and array of disciplines, including medicine, local efforts. We want these efforts to coalesce public health, education, child care, business and support a groundswell of action and industry, and religious and social addressing the needs of infants and toddlers organizations, who impact programs and and their families. Through a combination of policies for young children and their families. policy change and program implementation, you can make a tremendous difference in the The paper aims to create a common lives of our youngest citizens for their entire understanding of research and best practices lives. We invite you to join us in this critical and highlight the need for systemic, undertaking. coordinated action in every state across the southeastern United States. Section 1 briefly Vision and Mission. The mission of this summarizes findings from research. Section 2 project is to support family literacy and presents facts and figures that document the school readiness in the southeastern region. need for action in the Southeast, and Section SERVE will act as a catalyst for the 3 suggests core areas for action that are development of state and local policies, illustrated by examples of best practices. programs, and other ongoing, Because of the importance and value of institutionalized commitments to ensure locally generated solutions, Section 4 of the that all infants and toddlers get a healthy, paper suggests a planning process to guide nurturing start in life. The goal of SERVE's the development of recommendations for work is to ensure that each child attains a systemic change. This approach will help readiness level that will lead to success in build local ownership and support and school and eventually success in work and ensure that the outcomes reflect the needs adult life. and preferences of the state and its communities. 6 Section 1: Reeqt--ch Evidence \ We can now say, with greater confidence than Health and nutrition are critical in the first ever before, that the quality of young children's year of life, as babies triple in weight, double environment and social experience has a decisive, in length, and achieve 80% of their brain long-lasting impact on their well-being and growth. Good nutrition fuels this growth, as well as dynamic motor development ability to learn....(floweved our policies reflect neither our growing knowledge of early brain creeping, crawling and walking. Good health development nor our understanding of factors care protects children from disease and that tend to protect young children or place them corrects problems that interfere with normal at risk. growth. A safe environment enables children to grow without witnessing violence or Starting Points trauma that can affect self-confidence. Current research strongly suggests that healthy child development emerges from the Quality child care plays a critical role in interaction of a number of factors. For ensuring that infants and toddlers experience example, the Carnegie Task Force on Meeting healthy, nurturing stimulation while away the Needs of Young Children reports the from their parents. Yet quality and availability following research findings: of child care is frequently problematic for new parents, especially those who are poor and Brain development before the age of one is without the support of extended family more rapid and extensive than previously members. Availability of quality child care realized. Brain development is also much more provides parents with choices while they work vulnerable to environmental influence than or go to school. previously believed. In fact, when a child's early environment does not provide adequate Literacy development begins at birth and is stimulationfrequent interaction, physical influenced by many factors, including infant activity, and a variety of experiencesthen stimulation, language-rich environments, and the child's brain may fail to grow to its full social interaction. Despite the apparent potential. benefits of early intervention, participation and availability of programs are still limited. A nurturing parent provides infants with a sense of basic trust that allows them to feel Clearly, research demonstrates that by confident in exploring the world and forming ensuring a good start in life, we have a better positive relationships with other children and opportunity than previously imagined to adults. When parents are not able to respond promote learning and prevent damage. It is sensitively to their infants' needs, because of critically important that a comprehensive, factors such as marital conflict, depression, or coordinated system of education, child care, their own history of abuse, infants develop and support services be available for every feelings of helplessness that lead to later infant and toddler and their families to difficulties. promote lifelong literacy. BEST COPY AVAILABLE 9 Section 11: The Need for Actioft all subsequent learning and development, The most crucial and formative experiences and their importance cannot be overstated. for a developing child are those provided in Your state's future depends on your the first few years of life. In no other period willingness, and the willingness of others, to do such astounding changes occur so rapidly. make children a top priority in the state. Don't Within a span of three years, the newborn miss this opportunityour children are human moves from a completely dependent counting on us. being into one who walks, talks, and explores. These years are the foundation for I In North Carolina, in 1996, 15% of all births were to teen mothers. In 1996, Mississippi was ranked In 1996, 27% of North Carolina's 49th for the percentage of children non-white mothers had less than living in poverty. In 1995, they a twelfth-grade education. were ranked 50th. In 1995, it was reported that 17% of Mississippi's children live in In South Carolina, 20.6% of all babies extreme poverty. born in 1996 had mothers who received no early prenatal care. In Georgia, 35% of all births According to 1996 statistics, 9.2% of in 1996 were to unmarried infants born in South Carolina were of mothers. low birthweight. In 1995, 15,833 cases of child abuse or neglect were substantiated, including 16 fatalities. Of those cases, 3,829 children were removed from In 1995, 68 Florida children died the home. due to abuse or neglect. In Alabama, 36% of infants in 1995 were born with one In 1995, 170,727 cases of child abuse or neglect were reported or more health risks. in Florida. In 1995, only 77% of two-year-olds in Alabama were immunized. BEST COPY AVAILABLE 5 10 .1,