Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Strong Start Strong Finish

Social science research is connecting the dots between a child's successful start in early childhood and graduation from high school. It's probably been about a decade since third grade became THE benchmark year. The data became irrefutable that if a child is reading not on grade level by the third grade, their odds of graduating high school were four times less than if there were on level. In a report out of Maryland, children who were doing well in Kindergarten, were school ready, were eight times more likely to read on grade level when they reached third grade. See those dots being connected? If you're interested in more details read the recent report from the Annie E. Casey Foundation.

Wednesday, August 03, 2011

Career Expo 2011

Career Expo 2011 by hippyprogram
Career Expo 2011, a photo by hippyprogram on Flickr.

Opportunities can be stressful! Our home visitors have the opportunity to go to college using their AmeriCorps education award, of up to approximately $9,000 (if they serve four part time terms). To help them get started, we host an annual career information day, called Career Expo, hosted at Irving ISD this year. We asked representatives from various fields to speak on a panel detailing their education, skills, experiences, greatest challenges and how they got started. Home visitors also had the opportunity to experience a mock interview, have their resume reviewed and to enroll in the online AmeriCorps member system to track and use their education award. Thanks to everyone who came out for this event, volunteered to mock interview, served on the panel and especially to Irving HIPPY for hosting!