Professor Sean Reardon, a Stanford researcher, was the keynote speaker for our annual Make It Your Business Luncheon. Reardon received his doctorate from Harvard and has spent his career researching how to ensure every child is able to obtain the best education.

In his keynote address, he says statistics indicate some Oregon school districts are outperforming other school districts in similar socioeconomic areas but: "That opportunity is not equally shared by race or by socioeconomic backgrounds. That says we have a lot of work to do as a society about how we create broader opportunity."

He says gaps in educational opportunity start very early, and groups like Children's Institute, that take a holistic look at the social safety net, have the best chance of changing the trajectory of young people.

Senate Bill 182 would help early educators across the state access professional learning to increase the quality of early education. The bill would also allow K-12 schools to coordinate more with local preschools to ensure high-quality and seamless education in the state. In this podcast, Children's Institute President Swati Adarkar and Chalkboard Project President Sue Hildick discuss Senate Bill 182, what it would do for early childhood education, and other opportunities for improving education with a focus on systemic change.

Coquille School District Tim Sweeney is the guest for this edition of the Early Link podcast. Sweeney tells the story of the high school junior who led him to start early learning in his district and the increasing demand for high-quality early education on Oregon’s south coast.

Investments in early childhood that focus on children age 0-5 can yield a 13 percent return. Talking with Marina Merrill, Children's Institute's senior research and policy advisor, we examine the results of a recent paper from James Heckman called The Life-Cycle Benefits of an Influential Early Childhood Program. Heckman, professor of economics at the University of Chicago and Nobel Prize winner, looks at two programs in North Carolina that began in the 1970s and details positive outcomes in education, health, social behaviors, and employment.

Segment Highlights

0:38 The importance of starting at birth

1:00 Programs deliver a 13 percent return

1:23 Longitudinal analysis reveals broad impacts of 0-5 investments

2:06 Short-term studies have a different purpose compared to ROI studies

3:03 Learning from Tennessee about K-3 outcomes with a focus on quality improvement

4:11 Early education works and can produce long-term gains

4:54 Hard to find a better return on investment compared to any other social program

5:32 Cost per child compared to social impacts

6:05 Oregon's cost for preschool

6:23 Oregon spends a lot per child, has limited access to programs, and has high program quality

7:50 Stay tuned for more research analysis from Children's Institute

In the fourth installment of the Early Link Podcast, and the last one for 2016, I visited Yoncalla in Douglas County to learn more about the community, our Early Works initiative, and Yoncalla Elementary's new preschool funded by Oregon's Preschool Promise program.

I spoke with teachers Megan Barber and Cassie Reigard, as well as parents Crystal Sampson and Kevin Hoyt, all of whom have deep ties to the Yoncalla community.

More: http://www.childinst.org/news/the-early-link-podcast/835-yoncalla-strives-for-long-term-change

For this segment of the Early Link Podcast, I brought my kids to the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI) to explore the exhibits and learn more about the science museum's involvement in early learning. We spent lots of time in the Science Playground learning about animals, playing in sand, splashing in water fountains and whirl pools, and building dams. We also visited Innovation Station and the Chemistry Lab, and after several hours felt like we had just scratched the surface of what the museum had to offer.

During the visit, I spoke with Annie Douglass, the museum's early childhood education manager about how play can stimulate learning about the science process, the Living Laboratory program that teaches adults about cognitive science and early learning, and the role museums are playing in becoming access points for early education.

Enjoy the sounds of OMSI with some very young special guests!

Segment Highlights

0:02 OMSI is an amazing place!

0:41 Water play in the Science Playground

1:08 Early childhood education at OMSI

1:57 Living Laboratory helps adults learn about cognitive science

2:39 Museums increasingly serve as access points for early education

4:16 Adults are crucial to connect play and learning

4:58 An extra special closing song

More information with photos: http://www.childinst.org/news/the-early-link-podcast/830-early-learning-at-omsi

In this installment of the Early Link Podcast, we speak with Ruby Takanishi about her new book First Things First: Creating the New American Primary School. In the interview, Takanishi says, “primary education today reflects the social and economic divides in our country.” While some children in the United States are getting an outstanding world class education, many more children are in danger of being left behind. She describes early education efforts as essential to closing opportunity gaps, “the civil and human rights challenge of our times.”

Takanishi also describes a new model for American primary school: it starts at age three, it’s voluntary and universally available regardless of family resources, and is offered for a full school day. Compulsory full-day education would begin at age five, a shift for most states. That realignment would mean changes in school culture, principal leadership, curriculum, and continuous learning.

In addition to sharing insights about reimagining public education, Takanishi discusses inequalities in education based on a variety of interconnected factors: varied state investments and strategies, declining federal investments in children and families, and the changing roles of parents, families, and communities in the public school system. She also provides advice for Oregon in building a stronger early learning system, and much more.

First Things First: Creating the New American Primary School also highlights Children’s Institute’s Early Works initiative as a community-driven, data-informed approach that brings partners to the table, especially families. A core principle of Early Works is to connect practice to policy while working to evolve early learning programs.

Interview Highlights

1:14 - The state of primary education in the U.S. today

3:08 - How can early learning help close the opportunity gap?

6:54 - The ideal primary school - what does it look like?

11:15 - Can a state-by-state approach work to create the new primary school? What is the federal government's role?

14:33 - What would it mean for families and schools if children enter the primary education system at age three versus say, six?

16:30 - Implications for dual-language learners.

Note: The Institute of Medicine report Ruby references is Transforming the Workforce for Children Birth Through Age 8: A Unifying Foundation.

20:28 - How can early learning integration with the K-12 educational system change K-5 practices?

23:15 - Teacher preparation and professional development

26:45 - Two arguments in favor of requiring lead teachers in a preschool classroom to have a BA

29:00 - Ruby's advice for Oregon's early learning system

30:50 - Federal investments in kids ages birth to three

Note: In the podcast, Ruby says birth to five, not birth to three. She has corrected her statement - state funds are appropriate for children three and up; for children three and younger, she believes the federal government can have a bigger role.

35:20 - Sparking our collective imaginations and acting together to change our education system

Children’s Institute is excited to introduce the Early Link Podcast with an interview with our president and CEO, Swati Adarkar. Focused on Oregon’s early learning system and the state’s new preschool program called Preschool Promise, the segment explores what’s happening as the program launches.

Preschool Promise is part of an effort to help Oregon change the trajectory for vulnerable children and families by offering free, full-day, high-quality preschool to families at or below 200 percent of the federal poverty threshold. Programs just came online last month, and Oregon now has 93 sites serving 1,300 children in 14 counties.

Children’s Institute, along with its partners, played a key role in passing the legislation in 2015 and is actively involved in looking at issues of implementation.

Swati Adarkar, president and CEO of Children’s Institute, has played a pivotal role in creating meaningful change for Oregon’s most vulnerable children. She has helped bring together public and private partners to create a groundswell of momentum around increasing investments in programs and systems spanning the prenatal through third-grade early learning continuum (P-3).