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Welcome to Fairfax Futures
Where Smart Businesses Invest in School Readiness
Greetings!
 Last month, Fairfax Futures held its 6th annual
school readiness symposium, which was co-sponsored by Fairfax County Public
Schools and the Office for Children. More than 300 early childhood
professionals and educators gathered to learn ways to enrich the experiences of
the children they teach.
The full-to-capacity attendance at this year's program, "Integrating the
Arts in Early Learning," demonstrated how much early childhood professionals value
this educational experience. It was an opportunity
for hands-on workshops and shared learning among peers as they explored
techniques for incorporating the visual and performing arts in their daily
activities with children.
Enhancing the skills and professional development for early childhood
professionals is one way that Fairfax Futures works to assure that
young children in Fairfax County have the tools they need to succeed in
school. For insight as to why this event is so valuable to our community,
please take a moment to watch the report Channel 10 recently aired about our work.
Support from businesses, foundations and individuals is crucial to making
our our work possible. Call or e-mail me to learn how you can help
prepare young children in Fairfax County to reach their greatest potential and
find success in school.
Sincerely,
Dalissa Vargas
Executive Director
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Effects
of Low-Quality Child Care Linger
A recent Washington Post article ("Study finds that effects of low-quality child care last into adolescence") reports that a
federally funded, long-term study of child care found the effects
of low-quality care, including behavior and academic problems, persist into
adolescence. Researchers had expected the negative effects to disappear over
time as other factors become more important. The study has followed more than 1,300
children since 1991.
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Local Efforts Focus on Child Care Quality
Anne-Marie Twohie  | Meeting the need for high quality child care in Fairfax County
involves partnerships between child care professionals, the business community,
Fairfax County Public Schools and the County, says Anne-Marie Twohie, director
of the Office for Children. In an editorial published in the Fairfax Times ("Quality
early child care matters") Twohie credits Fairfax Futures for engaging the business and philanthropic community around the issue of quality care as it relates to school readiness. The Office for Children supports the care and education of children from birth to age 12 through a variety of programs.
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Early
Education Critical, Not Just Cute
An editorial in USA Today compares all the various education reform remedies
being bandied about (charter schools, public school choice, merit pay for
teachers, to name a few) and wonders why more attention isn't being given to
early childhood education. While a few states offer universal preschool, in
others as few as 10 percent of children attend public preschool programs. Read more online.
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Putting
Knowledge into Practice
If you knew
that education in the earliest years of life makes the greatest difference (we
do and it does), what would you do? A Next Social Contract for the Primary Years of Education
from the New America Foundation envisions transforming our education system
into one that serves children starting at age 3, erases the artificial divide
between "preschool" and "K-12" programs and extends high-quality teaching up
through the early grades of elementary school.
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Integrating the Arts in Early Learning
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