Harlem Children's Zone & Center on the Developing Child

Harlem Children's Zone

While researching through the Harlem Children's Zone site I decided to focus first on the the press releases offered through the site. 

A 2012 press release offers an article on the 20 communities chosen as recipients to grants for Promise Neighborhood Programs inspired by the Harlem Children's Zone program. 

This federal program recognizes the importance of leveling the playing field for children in under-resourced neighborhoods." Inspired by the Harlem Children’s Zone, Promise Neighborhoods wrap children in high-quality, coordinated health, social, community, and educational support from the cradle to college to career."

http://www.promiseneighborhoodsinstitute.org

Center on the Developing Child

On the Center on the Developing Child site, their most recent article is entitled 

"Changing the Narrative for Early Childhood Investment"  Shonkoff, Jack P. (2014). Changing the Narrative for Early Childhood Investment.JAMA Pediatrics, 168(2), 105–106. 

"Advances in the biological and social sciences tell us that the period from conception to school entry is a time of both significant opportunity and considerable risk. Multiple interventions during these early years have been designed to address the roots of lifelong disparities in learning, behavior, and health, and half a century of program evaluation has documented positive impacts on a variety of outcomes. That said, the quality of program implementation has been highly variable and the magnitude of the impacts has remained fairly stable during the past several decades, consistently falling within the small to moderate effect-size range. The time has now come for a different approach to early childhood investment that catalyzes innovation, seeks far greater impacts, and views best practices as a baseline, not a solution"(Shonkoff,2014). 

This is an article that is reflective of the issue of providing equality in education, from birth through adulthood. As the evidence is has shown the positive effects on child development and educational equity for all children. The quality of the program from which children are exposed at the earliest ages have the biggest impacts on their lives. 

This article further helps my understanding the importance quality programs that children of all ages have exposure to, when we are thinking of programs this is to say from birth through school age up through high school. All children can make gains from the benefits provided a high quality program.