Calendar

Below is a list of calendar items for Wake County SmartStart as well as partner and community organizations. If you have an event that you would like to include, please e-mail Louise Bannon at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address). For a list of all Wake County Public School System information sessions regarding the new student assignment plan, click here: http://www.wcpss.net/news/2011_nov3_info-sessions/.

February 2012

Educator Workshops at Project Enlightenment

  • Using “I Love You” Rituals with Young Children on Wed., Feb. 1 @ 5 p.m. 
  • Reaching All Readers: Joyful, Research-Based Teaching and Learning on Thur., Feb. 2 @ 6 p.m.
  • A Guided Observation of The Demonstration Preschool Classroom on Thur., Feb. 9 @ 8:30 a.m. 
  • Resiliency: Building and Encouraging Confidence In Young Children on Thur., Feb. 9 @ 1 p.m. 
  • A Guided Observation of The Family Literacy Classroom on Thur., Feb. 23 @ 9 a.m. 
  • Let’s MOVE! on Tue., Feb. 28 @ 5 p.m.

WCSS Board of Directors Meeting
Wake County SmartStart, 919-851-9550
4901 Waters Edge Drive, Suite 101
Raleigh, NC 27606
Feb. 22, 2012
8:30 a.m. - 10 a.m.

WCSS Finance Committee Meeting
Wake County SmartSTart, 919-851-9550
Raleigh, NC 27606
Feb. 16, 2012

WCSS Communications Committee Meeting
Wake County SmartStart, 919-851-9550
Raleigh, NC 27606
Feb. 24, 2012
2:30 p.m. - 4 p.m.

March 2012

Executive Committee Meeting
Wake County SmartStart, 919-851-9550
4901 Waters Edge Drive, Suite 101
Raleigh, NC 27606
March 28, 2012
8:30 a.m. - 10:30 a.m.

Child Care Services Association
Child Care Services Association’s Triangle Child Care Awards Breakfast – March 30
http://www.childcareservices.org/events.html

April 2012

WCSS Board of Directors Meeting
Wake County SmartStart, 919-851-9550
4901 Waters Edge Drive, Suite 101
Raleigh, NC 27606
April 25, 2012
8:30 a.m. - 10 a.m.

2012 National Smart Start Conference
Sheraton Greensboro at Four Seasons
3121 High Point Road Greensboro, NC 27407
April 30, 2012 - May 3, 2012
Click here for details and early bird registration: http://www.smartstart.org/category/conference/general-info

May 2012

Executive Committee Meeting
Wake County SmartStart, 919-851-9550
4901 Waters Edge Drive, Suite 101
Raleigh, NC 27606
May 23, 2012
8:30 a.m. - 10:30 a.m.

June 2012

WCSS Board of Directors Meeting
Wake County SmartStart, 919-851-9550
4901 Waters Edge Drive, Suite 101
Raleigh, NC 27606
June 27, 2012
8:30 a.m. - 10 a.m.

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North Carolina third-graders have higher standardized reading and math scores and lower special education placement rates in those counties that had received more funding for Smart Start and More at Four, now NC Pre-K, when those children were younger, Duke University researchers have found.

“These findings provide the most rigorous evidence yet that investments in these early childhood initiatives generate substantial benefits for all the children in the counties that receive these funds, even children who were never enrolled in the early childhood programs,” said Helen Ladd, the Edgar T. Thompson Distinguished Professor of Public Policy and a professor of economics at Duke.

For an average third-grade child whose community had received Smart Start or pre-k funding, the expected savings in special education and instructional costs is at least equal to the cost of those programs, researchers said. “By the time the children grow up, we expect the investment will have yielded large payoffs in lower special education and remedial costs,” concluded Kenneth Dodge, the William McDougall Professor of Public Policy and director of Duke’s Center for Child and Family Policy.