“The secret sauce is the coaches. They’re amazing in working with these families and helping them understand the value of a good education.”

Jim Lund of Waterford Upstart offered this reflection in this week’s GLR Learning Tuesdays session as he and other panelists described their efforts to support parents and educators in nurturing children’s early learning and school readiness.

Thank you for registering for this engaging and inspiring session featuring three evidence-based models for supporting kindergarten readiness, co-sponsored by Overdeck Family Foundation. If you missed this conversation or would like to review what was shared, links to the recording and other related materials can be accessed HERE on CLIP, with links to specific resources listed below.

The three featured models included:

• LENA Grow with information shared by Liz Pettit of LENA and implementation partners, Crystal Skeeter-Davis and Jamie Morris of Child Development Resources
• Springboard Collaborative with information shared by Keo Cheo-Young, Ed.D., and Sarah Anderson
• Waterford Upstart with information shared by Jim Lund and Tiera Lindsey

Panelists shared how they adapted their programs to the challenges posed by the pandemic, making them shorter, easier to implement and/or delivered virtually, using data as a guide to ensure the adaptions continued to deliver measurable progress for children. They offered insights on how to connect with families and incentivize their ongoing engagement in the face of myriad challenges.