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Plata-Potter focusing on Latinos’ early literacy

Sandra Plata-Potter wants to help first-generation Latino parents give their preschoolers a head start on literacy – and the resources to keep pace with their peers.

The CYFS doctoral student affiliate is collaborating with Faculty Affiliates Lisa Knoche and Helen Raikes to determine whether Latino parents’ engagement in a Head Start project encourages them to become more involved in literacy-related activities with their children. The researchers are also examining whether these home-based activities bolster children’s “emergent literacy” – the knowledge and skills that serve as foundations for reading and writing. Full Article

Eccarius receives $1.2M grant to train educators of deaf

Malinda Eccarius
CYFS faculty affiliate Malinda Eccarius is working toward improving deaf education throughout Midwestern schools.

CYFS faculty affiliate Malinda Eccarius recently received a four-year, $1.2 million U.S. Department of Education grant aimed at helping 25 K-12 instructors earn teaching endorsements in deaf education.

Eccarius’ “Mountain Prairie Upgrade Partnership-Itinerant” (MPUP-I) project will prepare instructors in regular and special education to become itinerant teachers – those qualified to assist students who are deaf and hard of hearing (D/HH) but take classes with their hearing peers. Full Article