TMW Center Newsletter June 2023

Making the Most of Summer with the 3Ts

For many families, summer means more time together—and our suite of resources can help them make the most of it! At the3ts.org, caregivers can learn simple strategies for leveraging their power to build their children’s brains and lay a strong foundation for a lifetime of learning. We demonstrate how adults can use the 3Ts to create memories and build neuronal connections at the same time. Whether they are filling long days with no school, soaking up a few extra minutes of sunshine before bedtime, or taking a long-awaited vacation, parents and caregivers can always Tune In, Talk More, and Take Turns with their little ones.

The3ts.org is available in Spanish at las3cs.org, and our Partner Portal includes a variety of free resources that community organizations are welcome to use to raise awareness about the importance of language-rich experiences!

Introducing SPEAK CAT at the Early Childhood Innovation Summit

This week, TMW Center team members Beth Suskind and Caroline Gaudreau previewed one of our newest tools—the SPEAK CAT—at the National Head Start Association’s Early Childhood Innovation Summit. This computer-adaptive version of our Survey of Parent/Provider Expectations And Knowledge (SPEAK) tool accurately and reliably measures parent and caregiver knowledge across eight domains of early childhood development. Using computer-adaptive testing streamlines assessment, produces more precise results, and allows for wide-spread adoption at scale. We are grateful to all of the Innovation Summit participants who reviewed some of the tool’s content and provided critical user experience feedback!

Learn more about SPEAK CAT here.

What We’re Reading

A new paper series from the National Academy of Medicine proposes a standardized set of core metrics to assess pediatric health—and recommends that “school readiness” be used as a developmental target for children aged 0 to 5. “School readiness could serve as a comprehensive lens for the early development of children across various domains: physical, socio-emotional, language, knowledge, cognition (including early literacy and math), and approaches to learning,” write the paper’s authors.

Read the paper here.

More

Read the rest of the June 2023 newsletter here.