Early Childhood Education Initiative:
Publications and Related Websites

Greater Expectations: Connecticut’s Comprehensive Plan for Education 2001-2005
http://www.state.ct.us/sde/whatsnew/greater_expectations.pdf
This comprehensive plan addresses one part of the State Board of Education’s statutory requirement to provide leadership to school districts with respect to preschool, elementary and secondary education, special education, vocational education and adult education by developing a comprehensive plan every 5 years.

Connecticut’s Blueprint for Reading Achievement
http://www.state.ct.us/sde/dtl/curriculum/currcbra.htm
This is the report of the Early Reading Success Panel, published by the CT State Department of Education in 2000. It contains a general overview of basic research finding about reading and specifies the competencies required for reading success for children in kindergarten through grade 3.

Early Literacy Development: A Focus on Preschool http://www.state.ct.us/sde/deps/early/literacy.pdf
This CT State Department of Education concept paper examines what literacy is, how to promote literacy with preschoolers and how to assess literacy development.

Connecticut’s Preschool Curriculum Framework and Benchmarks for Children in Preschool Programs
http://www.state.ct.us/sde/deps/early/Frmwrkbench.pdf
This State Department of Education, Bureau of Early Childhood Education and Social Services document outlines content standards and performance indicators in the areas of personal and social development, physical development, cognitive development and creative expression/aesthetic development

“Family Friendly” Services for Preschool Special Education
http://www.state.ct.us/sde/deps/early/friendly.pdf
The purpose of this guide is to provide guiding principles, recommended practices and tools which school district preschool special education personnel can use to provide “family friendly” services.

Preschool Special Education Program
http://www.state.ct.us/sde/deps/early/pssed.pdf
This outline of the CT State Department of Education’s Bureau of Early Childhood Education and Social Services program for preschoolers with special needs describes its purpose, philosophy, eligibility and legislative authority.

A Guide to Using the Position Statement on School-Family-Community Partnerships in Early Care and Education Programs
http://www.state.ct.us/sde/deps/readiness/alerts/TA-SR-00-01guide.pdf
This document examines how to develop comprehensive school-family-community partnerships in preschool settings. It looks at six partnership standards and offers sample activities.

Position Statement on School-Family-Community Partnerships
http://www.state.ct.us/sde/board/partnerships.pdf
This CT State Board of Education Position Statement encourages schools to develop comprehensive school-family-community partnerships by developing programs related to six standards.

CT State Board of Education – Position Statement on Preschool Services and Programs
http://www.state.ct.us/sde/deps/early/PreschoolPositionStatement.pdf
This State Board of Education position statement outlines the qualities of preschool programs and activities which will maximize the development of preschoolers.

Other Links of Interest:

Accreditation Facilitation Project (AFP) http://www.ctcharts-a-course.org/accreditationf.htm

Commission On Children http://www.cga.state.ct.us/coc

CT Department of Public Health Child Day Care Licensing Program http://www.dph.state.ct.us/BRS/Day_Care/day_care.htm

CT Voices for Children Website http://www.ctkidslink.org

CT-Charts-A-Course http://www.ctcharts-a-course.org

DSS Child Care Team http://www.dss.state.ct.us/ccare/ccare.htm

Hartford Area Child Care Collaborative http://www.hartnet.org/haccc/

Hartford Association for the Education of Young Children http://www.haeyc.org

Dialogue on Early Childhood Science, Mathematics and Technology Education
http://www.project2061.org/tools/earlychild