Hundreds of Educators, Parents Will Share Tips, Listen to Experts At National Conference on 21st Century Schools

More than 300 teachers, principals, parents and policy-makers interested in school-based child care are expected to attend the ninth annual School of the 21st Century conference, titled “Schools as Family and Community Resources: Ten Years of Experience,” which will be held July 20-23 at the Omni New Haven Hotel. The national conference is sponsored by the Yale University Bush Center in Child Development and Social Policy.

The keynote speaker is Lisbeth Schorr, director of the Harvard University Project on Effective Interventions and a widely recognized authority on programs for children and families. Her talk will be at 11 a.m. on Tuesday, July 21, at the hotel.

Since 1988, more than 500 schools in 17 states have implemented the School of the 21st Century model, organized by Yale psychologist Edward Zigler, an architect of the federal Head Start program. The schools, also known as Family Resource Centers (FRC) in some communities, offer an innovative model for school-based child care and family support services that transforms elementary schools into year-round, multi-service centers operating from early morning to early evening.

The model has proven successful in urban, rural and suburban areas, as well as in affluent, middle class and poor communities, Zigler said. Both Connecticut and Kentucky have launched statewide initiatives based on the model and, with the growing public interest in early childhood development, more and more states are starting pilot initiatives.

The program offers all-day, year-round child care for preschoolers; care for school-age children before and after school and during vacations; information and referral services for families; guidance and support for parents; training for child-care providers; and health services and education.

“The growing number of dual-earner families, coupled with welfare reform and new research findings about development in the critical first years of life, have created a growing demand for quality child care and other family support services. More and more people are seeing the School of the 21st Century model as part of the answer,” Zigler said.

About the 21st Century Schools initiative, Schorr said, “This national effort deserves its reputation as an outstanding example of effective programming for children and their families and communities. It builds on our wealth of knowledge about early development and shows how successful models can be spread to reach children and families in every part of the nation.”

Other speakers at the four-day conference include J. Larry Brown, Center on Hunger and Poverty, speaking on child malnutrition in the United States and related cognitive delays; Judith Johnson, U.S. Department of Education, sharing new funding opportunities in early education; J. Lawrence Aber, National Center for Children in Poverty, discussing welfare reform and the impact on child care; Thelma Harms, Frank Porter Graham Child Development Center, presenting tools to assess quality in child care; and Michael Kaplan, Yale Child Study Center, speaking on recent developments in brain research.

The conference agenda is an exciting mix of small group sessions, hands-on workshops and large group seminars on cutting-edge topics such as welfare reform, brain research and parental involvement, Zigler said. The conference also has a new, in-depth track on program evaluation for those already implementing the model. Other workshops will address issues such as planning, financing and marketing the program, as well as practical “how-to” sessions on running high-quality before- and after-school and preschool services or home visitation programs. The conference will also celebrate the initiative’s 10th anniversary.

Conference speaker George Coleman, chief of the Bureau of Early Childhood and Social Services for the Connecticut Department of Education, said, “The Connecticut Family Resource Centers, which are based on the 21st Century model, are playing a crucial role in the state’s efforts to improve school readiness and give children the start they need to succeed in school.”

Matia Finn-Stevenson, director of the School of the 21st Century program, said, “The growing public interest in early childhood education has doubled the size of our conference this year. We have representatives from 22 states, Canada, Puerto Rico and Denmark. The group is a fascinating mix of experienced program administrators as well as eager newcomers.” For registration information, please call (203) 432-9944.

* or Jennifer Heath 203/432-9943