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The Buffett Early Childhood Institute releases its 2nd year evaluation of childhood plan

The Buffett Early Childhood Institute at the University of Nebraska recently released its second year evaluation of the Superintendents’ Early Childhood Plan.

Chris Maxwell, Director of Program Development at the Buffett Early Childhood Institute, says the plan was developed by 11 superintendents in the learning community of Douglas and Sarpy counties. 

Maxwell says the goal of the plan is to develop ways of reducing and eliminating opportunity and achievement gaps while kids are still young. 

She says they also hope to provide the kinds of learning opportunities and parenting supports that can maximize children’s development in their formative school years. 

In its second year, Maxwell says implementation of the plan is going quite well, particularly the Birth through Grade 3 Approach.

"In an initiative this large, it’s a long term initiative.  But after two years, I think the pattern of results, both in terms of the kinds of practices and the changes in schools’ approaches to working with young children and their families are showing movement in a positive and promising direction, as are some of the initial indicators around children’s learning and development.”

Maxwell says children across preschool and Kindergarten through Grade 1 saw gains in vocabulary and general academic skills.  Additionally, the evaluation showed quality of teacher-child instructional interactions increased.

To view the report, the website is buffettinstitute.nebraska.edu/resources/reports-publications.