The Director of Early Childhood Programs and an instructional coach from Pasco County Schools, Fla., describe the why and the how of their LENA journey, touching on topics such as family engagement, CLASS scores, funding, and teacher job satisfaction.
LENA - Building brains through early talk
Webinars (6)
Every interaction counts: Bringing back a thriving culture through early talk
Join ELC of Orange County and ELC of Sarasota County as they share their data and stories on how they’ve increased teacher confidence, competence, and CLASS scores while improving quality assessment outcomes despite the challenges of the past two years.
Kindergarten readiness and conversational turns: Study results point to a boost from LENA Start
A study out of South Carolina has found a correlation between increased conversational turns and higher scores on the state’s Kindergarten Readiness Assessment.
Recruiting families for community programs
At the heart of every successful family recruitment strategy is effective relationship-building — with the families themselves, with the community organizations that may refer them, and with local media outlets. Join us to learn how a school district in Texas and a library system in Colorado have built buzz around their LENA programs and how they’ve translated that buzz into successful program implementations.
Every child ready by kindergarten: A case study in one school district’s vision of early childhood
New neuroscience research shows us that the first five years of a child’s life are the most critical period for brain development. What are school districts doing to give all children an equitable start?
Implementing a new community program: What we’ve learned in the first five years of LENA Start
Learn more about LENA Start, an evidence-based community program designed to engage families and help them learn how to increase conversation with their children during the first few years of life.
Blog Posts (16)
Conversational turns linked to literacy skills: LENA participants nearly twice as likely to be kindergarten-ready
Children who participated in a LENA program were nearly two times more likely to demonstrate school readiness in language and literacy, compared to demographically matched controls.
Fostering family engagement and early literacy at Pasco County Schools: Webinar highlights
One of the largest school districts in the U.S. brought LENA Grow to its Early Head Start and Head Start classrooms. Watch these webinar highlights to hear their story.
Kindergarten readiness, parent education, and conversational turns: A statistically significant correlation in a rural South Carolina school district
A study out of Cherokee County, S.C., has found a correlation between parent participation in LENA programs and higher scores on the Kindergarten Readiness Assessment.
Rural school districts: Challenges, opportunities, and LENA
Every rural school district has its defining features and challenges, but they all share a common opportunity: boosting early talk and getting a jump start on school readiness.
Launch Fund Grant Recipients 2020 Pt 2. – Welcome to our new partners!
Through our philanthropic partnerships, LENA awarded more than $525,000 in launch grants in 2020. We’d love to introduce you to our newest partners!
Q&A with Dr. Jim Duggan: Why school districts should prioritize early childhood
Your questions on school readiness answered by the assistant superintendent of Bourbonnais 53 school district in Illinois.
School districts use LENA programs to improve kindergarten readiness, child outcomes
School districts around the country are increasingly investing in the early years to give children an equitable start long before kindergarten.
Q&A with Kai-ama Hamer: A discussion of family engagement and parent recruitment
Family engagement specialist Kai-ama Hamer shares strategies for involving parents in community and school-based programs.
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.
Initial longitudinal evaluation results: Huntsville children whose parents participated in LENA Start have stronger literacy skills two years later
Promising new data show that children whose families participated in LENA Start, a parent-group program focused on increasing early talk, demonstrated considerably higher early literacy scores and were far more likely to be at an advanced literacy level entering pre-K.
Early learning classrooms in Fort Worth ISD using LENA Grow increase CLASS® scores
Classrooms that used LENA Grow, an experiential professional development program for early childhood teachers, increased scores in key CLASS domains compared to classrooms that did not use the program, a pre-post evaluation shows.
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.
Why I joined LENA after 25 years in the public school system
Laura Camp, one of LENA’s most recent hires, joined the team after 25 years in public education. Read about why she left to join the movement to close the talk gap.
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.
Honoring Pioneers in Improving Early Language Development
Congratulations to the winners of the 2017 Terry Paul “Making a Difference” awards! These awards are given at our biennial conference, to recognize outstanding contributions to fostering talk with children birth to three.
Articles (1)
What’s behind a spike in childhood speech development delays across the U.S.
PBS Wisconsin's Zac Schultz reports on what's behind the delays and whether schools have the resources to help teachers, students and caregivers.