Early-education project leaders meet in St. Paul

A powerhouse of early childhood education leaders from Illinois and Minnesota met in St. Paul May 9 to work together on the Midwest Child-Parent Center (CPC) Program Expansion. The program strengthens pre-kindergarten education and the transition to school through third grade and includes such components as greater parent involvement.
1aSteeringCommittee002A longitudinal study conducted by Institute of Child Development professor Arthur Reynolds has shown lifelong benefits of the first CPC, founded in Chicago in the 1960s. The expansion is now putting the model to the test in more settings–five school districts and 30 sites from Chicago to St. Paul–funded with a five-year federal innovation grant.
The steering committee is a large group of representatives from all the schools, including head teachers, parent resource room teachers, and more. St. Paul Public Schools Superintendent Valeria Silva was among those who joined discussions with Reynolds and former Federal Reserve research director Art Rolnick from the U and Barbara Bowman from Chicago’s Erikson Institute.
Read more about the Midwest Expansion of the Child-Parent Center and the i3 grant to the Human Capital Research Collaborative.
Photo by Greg Helgeson