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Acknowledgements
This project would not have been possible without the energy and determination of two people: David Lawrence, currently President of the Early Learning Initiative Foundation and a tireless advocate for children, who as Chairman of the Board of the Miami-Dade County School Readiness Coalition recognized the importance of the study and convinced the Coalition to support it; and Lisa Blair, now President of the Family Learning Partnership, who managed to recruit centers for the study in what must be a record time of less than two months and then, as Project Upgrade Coordinator for the Coalition, oversaw the crucial first three months of implementation.
Ardene Bachoo and John Alena from Child Development Services, together with Barbara Weinstein and Ann de las Pozas from Family Central helped recruit centers and were a constant source of help and advice throughout the study. Karen Egozi and Yvette Medina worked with us over the two years of the study to solve problems as they arose and to ensure the Coalition’s continued support. Our on-site research partner, Dr. Charles Bleiker, Kelly Hearn and other staff at FIU played important roles in coordinating on-site data collection activities and providing a prompt response to problems.
We would like to thank the staff at OPRE and the Child Care Bureau who made the decision to embark on this experiment and provided support and encouragement throughout the study. We are grateful to the external experts on our Technical Advisory Group and to Dr Ann Witte for constructive feedback and advice.
The positive findings in this study are a testament to the efforts made by early childhood teachers to make a meaningful difference in the lives of children for whom they care, and to the hard work of the mentors and trainers who coped with a myriad of implementation challenges with determination and intelligence. We owe them our gratitude.
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