Brainstorming: Thinking about Kids
Early Learners
How investing in Preschool Beats the Stock Market, Hands Down. Nobel laureate James Heckman, a professor of economics at the University of Chicago and the director of the Center for the Economics of Human Development, makes a strong argument to support early education programs in his paper, The Life-Cycle Benefits of an Influential Early Childhood Program.
11 Parenting Podcasts Worth Checking Out. Parenting: It's the most important job of all and there's no roadmap for how to do it best. Some good resources provided in this Washington Post article.
Read Aloud 15 Minutes. In an era of high-stakes testing and education reforms and revolutions, research has repeatedly proved that one simple parenting technique is among the most effective. Children who are read aloud to by parents get a head start in language and literacy skills and go to school better prepared.
The Joyful, Illiterate Kindergartners of Finland. While American youngsters learn how to read, Kindergarten students in Finland play. Notes one researcher: "There isn’t any solid evidence that shows that children who are taught to read in kindergarten have any long-term benefit from it." Food for thought.
Run-down schools trigger low test scores. Common sense says it's so. (We've been saying it for years.) Now Cornell social scientists show why it's true.
Teens & Young Adults
The Value of Mentoring. Whether formal or informal — mentoring is a powerful tool to keep young people on the right track, particularly kids who are disconnected from their community
Today’s College Students May Be Emotionally Unprepared. Findings confirm what we all know is happening. A survey of more than 123,000 students at 153 colleges by the American College Health Association in 2013 found that more than half experienced overwhelming anxiety and about a third felt deep depression during the academic year, as reported in the New York Times. Here's one program that's helping high school teens cope: Students returning to school after a serious mental health issue get the care they need thru "BRYT
The Real Reason College Tuition Costs So Much. Interesting findings reported in the New York Times. It's not due to cuts in public funding but an increase in enrollment and administrative personnel.
The Cost of An Overdose. Facing the opiod-heroin crisis in MetroWest. In 2015 emergency personnel statewide responded to 11,884 opioid-related incidents, up from 6,315 in 2013.