It’s no easy task for early childhood leaders to strategically disburse funds from PDG B-5, CCDBG, CLSD, and ARPA grants into the hands of LEAs and CCR&Rs. In fact, the alphabet soup of early childhood education funding streams can be a bit hard to digest, so to speak. In this webinar, state leaders will tell the stories of how and why they invested in initiatives for statewide implementation, as well as their visions for further expansion and impact.
LENA - Building brains through early talk
Webinars (3)
ReadPlayTalk: How one school district in Texas is prioritizing birth-to-five
Mesquite Independent School District, serving around 40,000 students in the suburbs of Dallas, has developed a successful early literacy initiative powered by city-wide dedication to a unified vision: School readiness and early literacy are vital for long-term success, and they start at birth.
Libraries as innovators in early childhood education
Learn how two library systems have reconceptualized early learning in their communities and how they’ve incorporated LENA Start into their visions as early learning innovators.
Blog Posts (15)
Universities use LENA to put early childhood research into action
Universities that use LENA are putting research into action, producing valuable data, and creating hands-on learning opportunities for students and faculty.
Q&A with Dr. Loretta Rudd: How University of Memphis is broadening their collective impact approach to scale early childhood programming
Through a collective impact model, the University of Memphis is implementing LENA programs to build stronger families, increase teachers’ skills, and support students’ learning in their local community.
Early Head Start programs use LENA Home to improve language and literacy outcomes
To help families and home visitors collaborate to improve language outcomes for children, many Early Head Start programs are using LENA technology in tandem with coaching during home visits.
Sequatchie Valley Head Start uses LENA Grow to meet performance standards for professional development
Sequatchie Valley Head Start uses LENA Grow to meet federal coaching requirements and work with teachers geographically separated over five counties.
Georgia Department of Public Health uses community partnerships and Project LAUNCH funding to scale parent programming county-wide
The team at the West Central Health District drew on a range of existing community partners to find space to run classes, recruit parents, and scale impact.
Four strategies one nonprofit uses to boost literacy citywide
Calgary Reads, a nonprofit in Alberta, Canada, uses LENA Start as a core component of their citywide strategy to boost early literacy in Calgary.
School readiness team at Huntsville City Schools uses LENA Start to increase children’s kindergarten readiness
To help prepare children to succeed in kindergarten, one school district in northern Alabama launched an early language intervention to boost cognitive development in children ages 0-3.
Case Study: Teen parent program adopts LENA Start to grow connections between clients, children
A home-visiting program for teen parents in Boulder County expanded their services to include parent-group classes, to the benefit of clients and their children.
Clarke uses LENA technology to bridge home and school environments
Clarke Schools for Hearing and Speech, a listening and spoken language program for children who are deaf or hard of hearing, has recently incorporated LENA technology as a “standard of care” for all children enrolled in their early intervention program.
Libraries serve as community catalysts to build pre-literacy skills
Public libraries around the country are using LENA Start to build children’s early literacy skills, connect families with community, and increase library engagement.
To improve quality outcomes, Early Head Start program looks to LENA Grow for timely feedback
Learn how one of the most successful Early Head Start programs in the country used LENA Grow to improve quality classroom practices.
Urban library expands reach and impact through community partnerships
San Mateo County Libraries has built successful partnerships to boost the reach and impact of their programs. Learn about how they are delivering LENA Start through partnerships with San Mateo County Housing Authority, Ravenswood Family Health Center, and The Primary School.
Case Study: How Sound Start Babies uses LENA SP to support parents
Read about how a nonprofit in New Jersey uses LENA SP to provide targeted feedback and coaching to parents of children who are deaf or hard of hearing.
Atlanta Speech School uses LENA for families of hard of hearing children
Staff from the Atlanta Speech School share how they use LENA feedback in coaching sessions with families to help increase their awareness and understanding of the audio environment in their home.
Parents as Teachers Affiliates Add an Early-talk Focus
LENA and multiple affiliates of Parents as Teachers, a MIECHV-approved home visiting organization, are working together to promote optimal early development for children by supporting and training parents and caregivers.
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Articles (34)
Wyndham Vale Childcare Centre in Australian First to Use Technology to Boost Language Development in Early Childhood
For the first time, an Australian child care center is using LENA Grow professional development with early childhood teachers.
Phoebe Child Development Center performs above national average
For a local child care center in Georgia, using LENA Grow has boosted high-quality caregiving and led to measurable differences in both teachers and students.
Impact Series: Agape’s Thrive by Five program enhances children’s conversation skills in preparation for kindergarten
A new program is helping to boost adult-child conversation in Memphis.
After One City Experiments With Toddlers Wearing Recorders and Sees the Number of Words They Hear Grow 50%, 5 More Mayors Will Pilot Innovative ‘Word Gap’ Program
Backed by promising research and a nearly $12 million investment from Bloomberg Philanthropies, the Providence Talks model is expanding to five cities across the country.
Connecticut Families Extra: More Conversation equals more Brain Growth
Scientists are researching how kids’ brains respond to words and what families can do to help language development.
Does speaking to your baby boost brain development? Virginia Beach uses “talk pedometers” to help parents find out
A growing body of research about early childhood education and cognitive development suggests that chatting with children, particularly from birth to age 3, is crucial. That thinking is at the heart of the program that Virginia Beach is now expanding with a nearly $450,000 grant from Bloomberg Philanthropies.
Positive Parenting: Conversations
Scientists are researching how kids’ brains respond to words and what families can do to help language development.
What’s new in civic tech: Bloomberg Philanthropies replicates early childhood innovation program in five more cities
Bloomberg Philanthropies will replicate an innovative early childhood learning program in five new cities. The five new cities will get tech and software they need to replicate what was done with families in Providence, provided by LENA, a national nonprofit that works within the space.
Birmingham receives grant for talk-based early childhood learning program
The city of Birmingham was selected as one of five cities that will replicate a free, early childhood education program in partnership with Bloomberg Philanthropies.
Birmingham selected to partner with Bloomberg Philanthropies on early learning initiative
The city of Birmingham was selected as one of five cities that will replicate a free, early childhood education program in partnership with Bloomberg Philanthropies.
Bloomberg cites Providence’s success in expanding childhood language program to 5 other cities
Bloomberg Philanthropies announced that Birmingham, Alabama; Detroit; Hartford; Louisville and Virginia Beach are picking up the program.
A smarter way to start
Smart Start of Davie County offers residents and early childhood educators free programs, including LENA Home, as it seeks to ensure quality childcare, education, health, and family support programs for all Davie children birth to 5
LENA Start program teaches parents about benefits of early speech patterns in children
Parents can learn more about their children's early language development with LENA’s “talk pedometer” technology as part of the LENA Start program in Marathon County.
‘Just Talk’: In Wausau, Technology Program Helps Parents Boost Babies’ Language Skills
Parents can learn more about their children's early language development with LENA’s “talk pedometer” technology as part of the LENA Start program in Marathon County.
Device capturing words you say to your child growing in our area
LENA Start kicked off in Marathon County last year, but now it’s expanding, helping even more parents than before.
HCS School Readiness Shares New Success Results of Early Start LENA Program
Parents can learn more about their children's early language development with LENA’s “talk pedometer” technology as part of the LENA Start program in Marathon County.
Huntsville parenting program creating stronger student readers
Young children in Huntsville are becoming stronger readers because of the LENA Start parenting program.
Brilliant Detroit opening 7 new neighborhood sites this year in expansion push
A new nonprofit in Detroit is expanding initiatives focused on kindergarten readiness, early literacy, and family stability in high-need neighborhoods.
Grantee Spotlight Blog Series: Spartanburg County Public Libraries
Spartanburg County Public Libraries, a 2019 Grantee of the Mary Black Foundation, will implement LENA Start classes and LENA Home coaching visits for local families to support early childhood development.
New language program could increase school readiness in Spartanburg County children
A new program from the Spartanburg County Public Library and partners could help improve kindergarten readiness countywide thanks to two grants from the Mary Black Foundation and LENA.
$20K grant helps Catholic preschool teach tots to read for life
Through a partnership with Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and LENA, families in Philadelphia are able to use LENA early learning technology.
Muscatine library to expand on early talk programs
Musser Public Library in Muscatine, Iowa, is launching a new LENA Start program in spring 2019.
New program helping Memphis parents, children fight illiteracy and poverty
A new program in Memphis, Tennessee, is teaching moms the importance of early communication with their child.
This growing program is addressing Detroit’s literacy crisis — just don’t say it’s filling a ‘word gap’
A small program that started in Detroit last year with an innovative plan to improve infants’ language skills has proved promising and is preparing to expand to serve more than 150 families.
Gift of gab: Frayser children reach for kindergarten readiness before they learn to talk
Community partners in Tennessee join forces to offer LENA Start to build community and school readiness skills.
Early childhood language program launches second session in Wichita Falls
LENA Solutions expands to Wichita Falls and other Texan cities in order to reduce talk gaps and improve school readiness for young children.
Early education program addresses R.I. youth literacy
The Brown Daily Herald looks at the history of the Providence Talks program and its expansion made possible through additional funding pledged by the Providence Mayor's Office.
Parents learn how to talk to their babies in new Virginia Beach program
Families and program staff share their experiences participating in the LENA Start program through Virginia Beach GrowSmart.
A high-tech approach to boost language skills starts with infants in Detroit
Detroit organizations are investing in LENA in order to improve school readiness within the community.
St. Vrain Valley, Longmont’s OUR Center partner to tackle the early childhood ‘word gap’
The Outreach United Resource (OUR) Center is using the LENA Start program to give parents the early language development resources they need.
Central Iowa literacy program for babies expands this fall
Small Talk Story Country is a growing outreach project partnering with LENA to give caregivers measurable results about how they communicate with their children.
The ‘word gap’ and 1 city’s plan to close it
Rhode Island’s Providence Talks is partnering with LENA to provide parents with resources to understand how they can improve their young child’s literacy.
City of Providence Launches “Providence Talks”
Providence, Rhode Island won Grand Prize in the 2012-2013 Bloomberg Philanthropies' “Mayors Challenge” competition with a proposal to use the LENA System for recording and reporting children's language environment as part of a pioneering initiative to improve language development in children ages 0-3. The “Providence Talks” program, which took first place in the competition against 20 finalists selected from 305 applicants, rolls out this spring with a pilot of 75 families, and is expected to grow to 2,000 families by 2015. The LENA donated its full participation in Providence Talks, including all equipment, software and staff time.