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Aug. 20, 2007
UW Conference on Early Learning Aligns with Gregoire's Report
Designed for educators, legislators, parents, and day care providers; Emphasis on translating key research into action at home and in the classroom
Sep. 24 & 25, 2007
University of Washington Campus, Seattle
UW Conference on Helping Children be Kindergarten-Ready
Aligning with Gregoire's "Washington Learns" Report
Conference Goals
Among Conference Offerings
About University of Washington Educational Outreach
UW Conference on Helping Children be Kindergarten-Ready
It's estimated that less than half of all kindergarten-aged children in Washington are ready to begin school. Many who start behind sadly stay behind. This lack of readiness is not just an enormous loss of human potential, it's also a high cost to taxpayers. To help close this gap, the University of Washington College of Education will hold its first annual Conference on Early Learning: Research into Action on September 24 and 25 at the UW campus in Seattle. This conference presents key UW research on child development, learning processes and the factors that affect them in plain English, emphasizing how to put these findings into action, whether at home, in early child care or in preschool.
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Aligning with Gregoire's "Washington Learns" Report
Early Learning: Research into Action aligns with Governor Christine Gregoire's recent report, "Washington Learns." It also complements other efforts and programs that aim to strengthen early learning across the state including "Thrive by Five Washington," a public-private partnership working to help ensure that all Washington children succeed in school and life.
"Our goal is to bring such research advances to a broad spectrum of the community and to generate ripple effects, so a critical mass of the public can make informed decisions about priorities when it comes to supporting early learning efforts and legislation," said conference coordinator Dr. Mona Murr Kunselman, Associate Director, Academic Programs, UW Educational Outreach. Kunselman and conference co-chairs Patricia Wasley, Ed.D., Dean and Professor of the UW College of Education and Ilene Schwartz, Ph.D., Professor, Experimental Education Unit, Chair and Professor, Special Education,
UW College of Education, have designed the conference for teachers, parents, legislators, community leaders, childcare professionals and advocacy groups. The College of Education, a supporter of the "Thrive by Five" effort, will soon launch a Bachelor Degree in early learning.
The conference will feature several distinguished UW researchers who are leaders in the field of early learning. Their bios and research areas are listed here.
Dr. Theodore Beauchaine speaks on the brain mechanisms associated with impulsive behavior and how to identify at-risk children very early in life. This allows teachers and parents to take action to provide learning environments and opportunities that are effective in preventing delinquency, school drop-out, addiction and other problems later in life—yielding a substantial return on early monetary investment.
Dr. Patricia Kuhl speaks on critical periods in child development and how to apply these findings in early learning strategies, especially in the areas of language acquisition and bilingual education.
Dr. Cathryn Booth-LaForce presents findings of a national study on the effects of child care on children's cognition, language skills, social-emotional development and health, with recommendations for educational strategy.
Dr. Carolyn Webster-Stratton discusses a model for a parent-teacher-school partnership to prevent and treat behavior problems in young children and foster social and emotional competence.
A survey of kindergarten teachers by the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction found that only about 25% of low-income children arriving for their first day of school had the social, emotional, cognitive and physical skills the teachers believe are needed to succeed. "We're not talking about young children arriving for kindergarten reading literature. We're talking about children starting on an even playing field—recognizing letters, playing well with others," said Thrive by Five board members Jackie Bezos and Kim Ackerley in an editorial published in The Seattle Times (January 4, 2007). Early Learning: Research into Action addresses that gap in school readiness.
Conference registration forms and additional information are available at the conference Web site or call (206) 543-5539. Registration is $265 on or before September 9, and $305 after September 9.
Continuing Education Units for Educators: 1.6 Continuing Education Units (or 16 clock hours) are available for conference attendees.
About University of Washington Educational Outreach (UWEO)
UWEO is the continuing and professional education division of the University of Washington, the nationally recognized public research institution based in Seattle. Helping the schools, colleges and departments to administer evening master's degrees, certificate programs, distance and online learning, international outreach, English language programs and more, UWEO is one of the largest and most highly regarded continuing and professional education programs in the U.S. (more information at the UWEO Web site.)