2012REPORTTO THE

COMMUNITY

Learning and Leadership in

Families is now LearnLead with an

updated name,new look andre-invigorated

mission of service to children and

families

To promote school readiness and success in the early grades through parent and community involvement in early childhood education.

New Website

Our Mission

How do we do that?

LearnLead translates research into practical playful strategies that help parents and teachers teach, guide, enjoy and inspire young children.

LearnLead, Learning and Leadership in Families’ new look and updated moniker, announces a new stage in LLF’s development and a new approach to helping

schools and families set children on a trajectory for success from the outset of schooling. Our corporate name remains the same, Learning and Leadership in Families, as does our commitment to parent and community engagement in early childhood education. We continue to design programs, create materials and train trainers to provide practical, playful, easy-to-use child-centered strategies to promote the compe-tence, confidence, critical thinking and creativity that lead to children’s academic achievement.

WHAT’S NEW?• The focus on translating current early childhood re-

search from academia to the household and classroom so the impact of proposed strategies are clear to the communities most affected

• The exploration of technology to strengthen our evalu-ation and monitoring capacity and make access to materials and training more accessible

• The development of licensing procedures to support broad-based dissemination of LearnLead materials

WHAT DRIVES US?Our primary commitment is to serving families in low-in-

come environments. We work in partnership with means test-ed programs including Head Start, Title I schools and others to reach into the communities with high proportions of low income families. In such settings positive reinforcement, val-idation, beauty, and plain old fun are far too rare. We believe these elements are critical to motivate parents and create the optimism essential to productive change.

WHERE ARE WE GOING?Our vision of the future includes incubating strategies

that interpret research for home, school and community use

within the Baltimore-Washington region, developing national demonstration programs in partnership with universities and/or national organizations to expand data and best prac-tices, and employing technology to disseminate programs, information, training and technical assistance efficiently and economically.

Thank you for the support you have provided to these efforts. We look forward to working with you as together we help young children achieve success in school and prepare for a productive future.

Louise W. WienerFounder and President

Message to our Wonderful CommunityBY LOUISE WIENER, FOUNDER AND PRESIDENT

What’s in a Name?A History of Innovative Programs and an Exciting Vision for the Future

• Meet the Board ................................................................. Page 2

• Focus on the PPC.............................................................. Page 3

• Why Baltimore and Delray Beach, Florida? ............. Page 4

• PPC: A Research Based Program ................................. Page 5

• Outcomes and Defining Terms ............................. Pages 6-7

• Family Programs ........................................................... Page 8-9

• Appreciation and Donors .................................... Page 10-11

• Thrust for Growth .......................................................... Page 12

INSIDE

LearnLead Report to Our Community 2012 1

Louise Wiener introduces Punctual Pete at George Washington elementary.

JINNY GOLDSTEIN, Chair-man Pro Tem, is President of the Goldstein Group which provides strategic advice on education and media. As Senior Vice President for Education at PBS, Goldstein launched cutting-edge ser-vices, including TeacherLine,

LiteracyLink and the Adult Learning Service. She launched and served as the President/CEO of The Business Channel, a for-profit, media-based training company. Recognized as an e-learning pioneer, Goldstein later joined Smarterville, LLC, a division of Educate, Inc. as Vice President for Educa-tion and Strategy. She serves on the President’s Advisory Council of Teachers College, Columbia University and the NYU-DC Center Steering Committee.

SUSAN BOKERN is a Vice President and General Man-ager of the Washington office of ProQuest Government Information Services, a information industry company that gathers data from the government agencies and translates it into products for the library, university, and think tank sectors. She has had a distinguished career within the information industry including leadership roles at NewsBank, The Health Pages, Gannett, USA Today and New Century Network.

JACQUELINE DAVIS, is the Content Expert for Family and Community Engagement for Trans Management Systems Corporation where she serves as liaison for Head Start Knowledge and Information Management Services (HS-KIMS) and the Office of Head

Start’s National Center on Parent, Family and Community Engagement (NCPFCE). She has worked with federal teams and stakeholders creating multiple publications, training manuals and on-line training programs. Davis began her career as classroom teacher and has had hands-on experi-ence in the many facets of education service delivery.

LAURA HENDERSON, entrepreneur cause-related marketer, strategic planner and author has served numerous boards including the Montgomery County Economic Advisory Council the Center for Women’s Business Research, the Lab

School of Washington, and Strathmore Hall Arts Center. Among her many awards are the National Association of Women Business Owners’ Business Owner of the Year, and The George Washington University School of Business and Public Management’s Social Responsibility Award. She is co-author of the recently released book How Women Lead, The 8 Essential Strategies Successful Women Know.

FRANKIE HOOVER GIBSON is widely regarded among early childhood educators for her contributions to parent and community engagement strategies, training and planning. She was the Senior Parent Involvement Specialist at the Head Start Bureau

(now the Office of Head Start) at the US Department of Health and Human Services. She is a teacher and family therapist by training. Retired from the federal govern-ment, she serves on the board of the Trey McIntyre Ballet Company.

CHRISTOPHER LIBERTELLI is Head of Global Government Relations at Netflix, Inc. Chris joined Netflix from Skype, where he successfully managed the company’s government relations programs in the U.S., Canada and Latin America. Prior to

joining Skype in 2005, he served as Senior Legal Advisor to the Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission and an Associate at Dow, Lohnes & Albertson. He is a known for his consistent advocacy for removing barriers to affordable access to the Internet.

LOUISE WIENER, President and Founder, is a pioneer in the field of parent involve-ment in early childhood education. She designed in-novative programs in partner-ship with the National Head Start Association where her earliest work exploring a new

paradigm between early education and cultural resources was integrated into publications of the US Department of Education and the Council for Professional Recognition. She developed the Perfectly Punctual Campaign in part through collaboration with the Linkages Project of the Coalition of Community Schools and the Institute of Educational Leadership. Before founding LearnLead, Louise served in the government, corporate and museum sectors.

LearnLead Board of Directors

LEARNLEAD2500 Virginia Avenue, NWSuite 212SWashington, DC 20037www.learnlead.org

WASHINGTON OFFICE202-657-4134

BALTIMORE OFFICE410-929-7639

Contact Information

WASHINGTON-BASED TEAMLouise W. Wiener, President and CEO Isel Perez-Castellanos, Budget and FinanceBarbara Wille, Director of External Relations

PROGRAM DEVELOPMENTBrandon Corbett, Public Relations InternJanet Felsten, PlaceWise LLC, Family ProgramsTan Ly, Visually Dynamic, Design DirectorKavita Mittapali, MN Associates, Evaluator

BALTIMORE TEAMHadleyAdams, Project Manager Chauncey McGhee, Deputy Project Manager

DELRAY BEACH PROJECT MANAGERJanet Meeks, Office of the City of Delray Beach

LearnLead Team

We are deeply grateful for the service and counsel provided by our Perfectly Punctual Campaign Advisory Board in Baltimore

EMILY BLUMENTHAL – Director of Family Programs, Walters Art Museum; Co-Chair of Countdown to Kindergarten Coalition

SHANNON BURROUGHS-CAMPBELL – Director, Baltimore City Head Start

FAITH CONNOLLY – Director, Baltimore Education Research Consortium

KAY CONNOR – Director, Taghi Modaressi Center, Department of Psychiatry, University of Maryland

SUE FOTHERGILL – Director, Baltimore Student Attendance Campaign

ELLEN RIORDAN – Director for Children’s Programming, Enoch Pratt Library

AREZO RAHMANI – Attendance Communications Coordinator, Baltimore City Public Schools

TRACY RONE – Research Associate, Institute for Urban Research, Morgan State University

ROGER SCHULMAN – President and CEO, Fund for Educational Excellence

HEIDI STEVENS – School Everyday Coordinator, Baltimore City Public Schools; Ex-Officio Members of the Advisory Board

2 LearnLead Report to Our Community 2012

Additional Advisors

FACT: Missing 10% of school per year starting in kindergarten has a serious affect on children’s academic prog-

ress, and impacts poor children at four times the rate of their higher income peers

FACT: Reversing chronic absence within two years of its start can also reverse the negative impacts

FACT: Not showing up, or not showing up on time, is one of the largest causes of job loss in entry-level jobs

The Perfectly Punctual Campaign (PPC) is a site-based strategy to help principals and directors maintain strong average daily attendance and combat the chronic absence which undercuts both the finances of the school and its academic perfor-mance.

Central to the PPC design is the rein-forcement and recognition of children and parents. The protocol engages children directly in tracking their own attendance and engages parents by honoring them for getting their children to school on time.

PUNCTUAL PETE LEADS THE WAY!The Perfectly Punctual Campaign com-

bines three key elements for success; • high visibility for on-time attendance

as a community value• structured recognition for success• data analysis and disseminationThese elements are supported by

professional development for teachers and workshops for parents.

VISIBILITY, DATA ANALYSIS, STRUCTURED RECOGNITION

What’s a Campaign without a button?!?! Punctual Pete, the multi-cultural, bilin-gual mascot announces “On Time ~ On Target for Success!” and appears on PPC scorecards, tallies, buttons, stickers and reminder cards to guide the process and add playfulness to the very serious issue of on-time attendance.

PPC integrates tardiness data with presence and absence data analyzes pat-terns to help teachers and administrators recognize problematic patterns and honor positive ones.

A sequence from shorter to longer timeframes and increasing-ly prestigious acknowledgment encourages children and parents towards positive routines.

PPC engages children daily and recognizes them weekly; reminds parents weekly and honors them monthly; and celebrates families’ commitment and tenacity quarterly.

The process emphasizes attendance as a community-wide child-centered value.

Focus on The Perfectly Punctual Campaign

From School Readiness to Job Readiness, On-time Attendance is Key!

“I love the Punctuality Campaign because is involves the parents and gives them support and praise. They are praised for getting their children to school on time, and it makes them feel successful. These parents need our support, and they get it in this effort.”

Rosezene Lewis, Center Director at the Morgan State University Head Start program in Baltimore

LearnLead Report to Our Community 2012 3

What’s a campaign without a button?

Baltimore is one of the first cities in the nation to address chronic ab-sence with intensity and Maryland is

one of the first states to calculate chronic absence on a routine basis.

Since 2008 the Baltimore Student Attendance Campaign has hosted monthly meetings focused on policies and proce-dures that affect attendance. LearnLead is proud to have become part of that coali-tion and among its first members focused specifically on prevention strategies at the preschool and early elementary levels.

LearnLead has a history of collabora-tion with Baltimore Head Start agencies dating back to the late 1990’s. During the 2010-2011 school year St. Jerome’s Head Start and Morgan State University Head were LearnLead study sites providing the first in-depth data on chronic absence and chronic tardiness at the preschool level.

From that work the theory emerged that a focus on punctuality from the outset of schooling will result in improved atten-dance overall, and can prevent or reduce the rate of chronic absence from kinder-garten forward.

This school year began with an Atten-dance Campaign led by Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings Blake and Superin-tendent of Schools Andres Alonso. Joining them are the Baltimore Student Atten-dance Campaign, the Family League of Baltimore, several corporations and the co-operation of many non-profit agencies for a major push to honor schools, students and families that improve attendance. LearnLead is proud to participate in this city-wide effort.

It would be hard to identify a city more focused on combatting chronic absence or a better environment in which to learn, share, and grow.

Why Baltimore?

LearnLead and Delray Beach met on a “virtual date” - a webinar presenta-tion co-hosted by Attendance Works

and the U.S. Office of Head Start featuring three national model programs. Follow-ing the presentation on the Perfectly Punctual Campaign, LearnLead and the City of Delray Beach (FL) developed PPC’s

first licensing agreement allowing Delray Beach, Florida, to integrate the Perfectly Punctual Campaign into its Campaign for Grade Level Reading.

Like Baltimore, the Delray Beach ini-tiative reflects a vibrant partnership of the City, its Education Board, and its business and civic leaders.

Delray Beach has a high concentration of English Language Learners so buttons and other parent and child materials are available with English-Spanish and En-glish-Creole translations.

LearnLead salutes Delray Beach, its first “distance partner” and Janet Meeks, the city’s energetic Coordinator for Education.

4 LearnLead Report to Our Community 2012

Principal of Baltimore’s George Washington Elementary, Amanda P. Rice, is a strong proponent of the program.

Why Delray Beach, Florida?

The Delray Beach initiative reflects a vibrant partnership of the City, its Education Board, and its business and civic leaders.

In early 2012, the Baltimore Education Research Consortium (BERC), a coalition of Johns Hopkins University, Morgan

State University, and the Baltimore City Public School System, released a quanti-tative longitudinal study examining the attendance patterns of 2006 Head Start and city pre-kindergarten students through third grade. They found that the students in pre-kindergarten settings who are chron-ically absent often repeat the pattern in later years.

“Chronic absence” is a term coined in seminal studies from the National Center for Children in Poverty at the Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia Uni-versity. The analysis of attendance data from Early Childhood Longitudinal Study – Kindergarten (ECLS-K) by Drs. Maria-jose Romero and Young-Sun Lee (2007) followed kindergarten children (1997-1998) through fifth grade provided the definition and core insights on the topic. Present, Engaged and Accounted For: The Critical Importance of Addressing Chronic Absence in the Early Grades by Hedy Chang and Mariajose Romero (2008) probed chronic absence in seven communities and gave a face to the impact of chronic absence across the nation. Both studies documented that among poor children, chronic absence in kindergarten predicts the lowest level of educational achievement at the end of fifth grade. The finding has been repeated across the country multiple times.

The need for intervention and pre-vention is intense. LearnLead’s survey research implemented in partnership with the National Head Start Association (2009) showed tardiness to be widespread

across the country. We asked Dr. Romero to review the ECLS-K data to assess the relationship between tardiness and chronic absence.

She found that children who are tardy 10% or more in kindergarten are:

• 10 times more likely to become chron-ically absent in kindergarten

• 10 times more likely to be chronically absent in first grade, and

• 3 times more likely to be chronically absent in third and fifth grades.

A subsequent review by Dr. Romero of tardiness data from in 11 Head Start classrooms across two agencies in Baltimore (2010) and found:

• 28% of children were never late.• 25 % of the children were late nearly

every day they attended.• 20% of the late comers arrived 30 to 60

minutes late.Working closely with Hedy Chang of At-

tendance Works and Dr. Mariajose Romero, LearnLead designed the current Perfectly Punctual Campaign to address attendance patterns from preschool forward to prevent or reduce the debilitating effects of chronic absence in kindergarten and its dispro-portionate impact on poor children. We are grateful for the collaboration of these talented leaders.

The Perfectly Punctual Campaign: Research Base

TM

www.learnlead.org

For Success!¡Ser un éxito!

On Time On TargetA tiempo • Sobre mi meta

UNION BAPTIST HEAD START

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Children are welcome at12:30 P.M.

Children are late at1:00 P.M.

Please rememberPor favor recuerde

los niños son bienvenidos a las

los niños llegan tarde a las

LearnLead Report to Our Community 2012 5

The first iteration of the Perfectly Punctual Campaign (2000-2005) grew from the observation by Don Cash, an LLF Board member and representative of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 400 that a major cause of job loss at the entry level is not showing up – or not showing up on time.

We are grateful to Don Cash and his colleagues at UFCW for helping us recognize that on-time attendance is a lifelong issue – from school readiness to job readiness.

Starting Point

The most important question of the first year pilot was: Can an empha-sis on on-time attendance improve

attendance overall and prevent or reduce chronic absence? The answer appears to be Yes!

The Perfectly Punctual Campaign proposes a new culture around attendance. We are moving from a focus on atten-dance as accountability to attendance as a child-centered value. New thinking, new logistics and new habits take time – but the early findings are more than promis-ing.

The PPC strategy - a focus on on-time attendance - improves attendance and strengthens school climate.

WHAT WORKED WELL

Visibility and playfulness• Buttons and stickers and photos put

smiles on everyone’s face and made people feel they wanted to participate

• Children wearing PPC vests to assist in greeting was a great incentive

Engaging the children • children and parents loved the score-

cards • teachers were divided – some thought

it wonderful; others felt it another chore

Engaging the parents• Turn-out for family events honoring

parents was strong and happy • We awarded a flower to parents of

PPC children – and found the children wanted one too!

Parent satisfaction• Almost 90 % reported that their

children liked and responded well to PPC activities

• More than 85 % stated PPC helped them get their children to school on time

• 73% indicated they would volunteer to support the program

ATTENDANCE RATES• PPC Head Starts improved attendance

over the previous year and in comparison with other agencies. (up to 8% improve-ment in some months)

• PPC classrooms stayed above min-imum attendance requirements each month in all but one month - a change of 30-60 % among the participating agencies.

NEW DATA • Baseline data on chronic absence

in preschool shows very high rates if the norm of 10% for kindergarten is applied to preschool (26–44%)

• The rate drops as much as a third to a half if the Head Start norm of 15% is applied.

What Have We Learned?

We are learning that tardiness is as big a problem – or even bigger in some school environments – than chronic absence. LearnLead will be pursuing and disseminating more data on this as we move ahead.

6 LearnLead Report to Our Community 2012

PPC greetings include a smile for being on-time.

Starting Point

• Analysis by classroom shows signif-icant difference in attendance patterns from classroom to classroom with the same agency and within the same school or program.

YEAR TWO GROWTH Our goals for Year Two are to smooth

logistics, add materials to sustain visibility, excitement and momentum, and prepare to scale the model through enhanced profes-sional development and parent programs.

These goals for the Perfectly Punctu-al Campaign in Year Two have already

been partially met with the introduction of Punctual Pete, the expansion of the program to additional schools and the development of the Parent Workshops. We have set numeric goals to assess short-term impact, though the more important impact of this process will require longitudinal study.

CONTINUING TO IMPROVE QUANTITATIVE OUTCOMES

• 5-7% improvement in daily atten-dance at each site over the previous year and in comparison with other schools

not in the program• 3% reduction in the degree of tardi-

ness –fewer minutes late per incident – and more time learning

• Improvement in sense of belong-ing among children and parents and improvement in overall school climate as measured by pre- and post-program surveys

These ambitious programmatic goals, paired with our LearnLead institutional goals, outline a future full of challenge, but also great opportunity to serve more families.

AVERAGE DAILY ATTENDANCE

A school-by-school count of the number of children present each day.

Importance: Compliance is-sue; relevant to school funding

CHRONIC ABSENCEA child-by-child count of

the number of children absent .Missing 10 % or more per

school year is the tipping point for negative academic impact on children’s school achieve-ment.

Missing 20% or more per school year defines severe chronic absence and a sig-nificant negative impact on academics.

Importance: Chronic absence is often hidden by Average Daily Attendance

CHRONIC TARDINESSA child-by-child count of

the number of children late each day.

Being late 10% or more per school year should serve as an alert to address attendance issues before chronic absence sets in.

Importance: High tardiness is a strong predictor of high absence.

Defining Terms

LearnLead Report to Our Community 2012 7

Hands-on Family and Parent Programs

Linking Past, Present, Future

8 LearnLead Report to Our Community 2012

Family celebrations, interactive family literacy events that focus on parent-child collaboration and creativity, are a continuing LearnLead standard

“Gingerbread Build” now in its 15th year continues to be a sure-fire Decem-ber holiday hit. It is lots of work and lots of fun – but as these pictures docu-ment - well worth it for the smiles, the remarkable creativity, and the good feelings engendered!

LearnLead Report to Our Community 2012 9

CORE BELIEFS UNDERPIN ALL OUR WORK• Parents want better for their children than they themselves have experienced

• Attractive design conveys respect for par-ticipants – a sine qua non for progress

• Acknowledging parent knowledge and skills is as important as providing new information

• Celebrating accomplishment motivates everyone – parents, teachers, staff and chil-dren. A little joy and a little recognition goes a long way!

• Other LearnLead programs: Messages of the Built Environment, Museum as a Resource, Parenting for Literacy, TAP: Teaching Advantage for Parents, and Per-fectly Punctual Campaign.

Top left, mother and child in a Parent and Child Together workshop from Messages of the Built Environment (Rose-mont Head Start, Washington, D.C.). Above, first grader sports her button at George Washington Elementary School in Baltimore. Left, PPC Family Celebration and Pajama Story time at George Washington Elementary School in partnership with the Enoch Pratt Free Library.

While we have an updated name, stylish new look and refined (re-invigorated) mission, one

thing has not changed: Our deep appreci-ation for the generous support of friends, foundations, corporations, agencies and associations since 1995.

Donations and grants to Learning and Leadership in Families (LLF) have totaled over $1,500,000. These funds were essen-tial in growing our pioneering services for at-risk children and families, Museum as a Resource and the Messages of the Built Environment.

This year, donations to LearnLead will

be used to support the Perfectly Punctual Campaign, which is the primary focus of our current efforts. Perfectly Punctual has struck a chord with school districts and early childhood programs as a simple yet compelling and effective strategy to combat tardiness and absenteeism and improve student success.

Our immediate goals are to refine Perfectly Punctual based on work with pilot sites and research and to deliver the service to additional classrooms and more children. With your continued support, we will be able to do that and more!

On behalf of the LearnLead Board and

LearnLead’s extraordinary Founder and President Louise Wiener, thank you for all you have done to support our programs. We look forward to continuing our part-nership with you, our supporters, to help all children succeed in school and in life.

Jinny Goldstein, Chairperson Pro TemLearnLead Board of Directors

Appreciation to Our Generous Donors

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Morgan State University Head Start Gingerbread House Building Program

LearnLead Report to Our Community 2012 11

FOUNDATION DONORS2701 Foundation, Inc. Abell Foundation Annenberg Foundation Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation Annie E. Casey Foundation Fannie Mae Foundation Freddie Mac Foundation Freedom Forum National Endowment for the Arts Philip L. Graham Fund Kanter Family Foundation W.K. Kellogg Foundation Lehrman Foundation Mead Corporation Foundation Eugene and Agnes E. Meyer Foundation Community Foundation of the National Capital Area Open Society Institute Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust Hattie M. Strong Foundation Weissberg Foundation United Way of Prince George’s County INDIVIDUAL DONORS AND CORPORATE DONORSRonald and Anne Abramson Alvin and Marion Akman Timothy and Phyllis Alexander E. James and Ginger Anthony Leonard and Joy BaxtMyron BelferBruce and Laurie BergerHeidi Berry*Dana BeyerDouglas and Sue BesharovBooz Allen HamiltonBetsy BowersBruce BowmanCatherine BrownCharles and Katherine BuffonMichael and Margaret ChanninDavid CohenCohen and Cohen, DDSSteven Dixon*Becki DonatelliHope EastmanStuart and Fran EizenstatRichard and Lois EnglandNicholas and Susan Fels Mary FenelonKatherine Fulton and Robert KyleGiant FoodFrankie Hoover Gibson

Nevin GibsonMichael and Ellen Gold Michael and Jinny GoldsteinRichard and Susan GoldsteinEdward and Jeri GreenbergAbe and Dena GreensteinJ. Ira and Nikki Harris Laura HendersonSheldon and Roberta HochbergLaurie KramerClifford and Ceclia LaPlanteMelvin and Susan LefkowitzChristopher Libertelli and Yuki NoguchiAllan and Marilyn MeltzerCharles and Jeanette MillerCarol Moses*Kate MossJoseph and Margot OnekSeymor and Ruth PerlinChristine A. PhilpotCaroline and Jerrold PostPeter and Nancy ProwittStephanie RobinsonSteven and Ilene RosenthalRobert Shoenberg Pamela Somers and Stuart Gerson James Trawick* Peter and Rhoda Trooboff United Food and Commercial Workers, Local 400 Susan M. Washington Maurice Wiener Louise W. Wiener John and Barbara Wille Benjamin and Barbara Zelenko

PRO BONO DONORSAgnostech Systems Covington & Burling LLP Dow Lohnes LLP Glen Echo Group, LLC Strategic Planning Hope Eastman and The Law Firm of Paley Rothman David Medinets Netflix Matthew C. Wiener

UNIVERSITY PARTNERSWe are very grateful to the following local universities for their work wih LearnLead

George Mason University Masters Program in Public Administration

Georgetown University’s Hilltop Consultants

* deceased

Every effort has been made to accurately recognize our generous supporters. If you believe your name has been omitted in error, please con-tact Barbara Wille at bwille@learnlead.org.

The Donors

As we look to the future, LearnLead envisions three areas of programmatic focus:

1) Broad dissemination of the Perfectly Punctual Campaign including a national re-search and evaluation study to assemble and dis-seminate a broad range of best practices to help principals and teachers and families strengthen attendance, academic achievement, and attitudes surrounding school and school success

2) Addressing the needs of the Birth-to-Three community by adapting existing LearnLead programs and/or applying what we have learned in new configurations with new partners

3) Expansion of “train the trainer” services including the development of distance learning products to disseminate LearnLead programs.

BUILDING ON GROUND-BREAKING RESEARCH

LearnLead is committed to the development of practical, playful strategies that bring semi-nal research to life directly within the commu-nities most affected by the research.

Our early programs, put Betty Hart, PhD and Todd R. Risley, PhD’s ground breaking research “Meaningful Differences in the Every-day Experiences of Young American Chil-dren”, (1995) into action. Drs. Hart and Risely identified the significant, positive correlation between children being exposed to language and conversation and the physical development of their brains.

To the frequently heard question, “But what should I talk about?” Messages of the Built En-vironment and Museum as a Resource answer with a strategy that turns everyday objects and environments into conversations starters for parents and their young children.

The Perfectly Punctual Campaign arms parents with information on chronic absence and offers concrete action they – and only they –can take to improve their children’s academic success. For vulnerable parents, many of whom question their ability to support their children’s education effectively, Perfectly Punctual is a powerful tool.

We welcome collaboration with experts and organizations locally and nationally and with stakeholders and potential investors as together we nurture the competence, confidence, critical thinking and creativity that will set all our children on a trajectory for success.

Thrust for Growth

Helping Parents and Educators Teach, Guide, Enjoy and Inspire Young Children

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Above, children at Miner Elementary School exploring doorways with blocks at a family program of Messages of the Built Environment. Left, PPC “munchkins” show off their PPC buttons.

One Last Look

Thank you to the leadership team of principals and directors participating in the Perfectly Punctual Campaign during the 2012-13 school year. Your energy, determination, and creativity in addressing chronic absence and chronic tardiness enriches the education community at large.

BALTIMORE, MARYLAND LEADERSGAYLE HEADENDirector, Union Baptist Head Start

RHONDA JACKSONDirector, Morgan State University Head Start

BRIAN PLUIMPrincipal, Westside Elementary School

AMANDA RICEPrincipal, George Washington Elementary School

DEBRA SANTOSPrincipal, Furman L. Templeton Preparatory Academy

DAPHNE WHITTINGTONPrincipal, Heritage Early Learning Center

DELRAY BEACH, FLORIDA LEADERSMARLENE CAMPBELLPrincipal, Pine Grove Elementary School

KATHLEEN DE PUMAPrincipal Orchard View Elementary School

JANET MEEKSEducation Coordinator, City of Delray Beach

To Our Partners

2500 Virginia Avenue, NWSuite 212SWashington, DC 20037www.learnlead.org

WASHINGTON OFFICE202-657-4134

BALTIMORE OFFICE410-929-7639

LearnLead

The 3-year-olds at Morgan State University Head Start love Punctual Pete.

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