SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 10, 2014 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Common Sense, the nation's leading nonprofit organization dedicated to helping families and educators thrive in a world of media and technology, has joined the launch of Invest in US, a national campaign and challenge to be announced today by President Barack Obama. Invest in US will challenge business leaders, philanthropists, advocates, and public officials to build a better nation through high-quality early childhood programs for children from birth to age 5.
Common Sense CEO and Founder James Steyer will join President Obama today at the White House Summit on Early Education in announcing the Invest in US challenge. As part of Invest in US, Common Sense is pledging to advocate for initiatives and programs that support the health, education and well-being of children under 5. Steyer also will be a featured speaker in a summit working session "Driving Innovation: Early Learning and Technology."
"Common Sense believes that every child deserves a fair start in life and is proud to support the expansion of quality early childhood education programs across the nation so that all children have the opportunity to succeed in school and life," said Steyer. "There is ample evidence that early learning experiences are key to every child's long-term chances of success. To provide America's kids with an equal opportunity to thrive, we must make the health, education, and well-being of all children under 5 a top national priority. Common Sense advocates for early childhood education as one of the best investments our nation can make."
Investment in early childhood development will be one of Common Sense's key policy priorities in the coming years. Common Sense works with federal, state, and local leaders to expand access to critical programs with the goal of providing every young child with the opportunity to succeed. Education researchers, teachers, economists, and public health experts agree that the foundation for success begins long before children enter formal K–12 schooling. Those committing to Invest in US are building a better nation by helping to create programs that develop strong children and families.
Invest in US commitments are intended to:
Strengthen public systems at the federal, state, and local levels to ensure continuous quality improvements in parental education, home visiting, Early Head Start, quality child care, Head Start, and preschool programs;
Integrate health and developmental screenings with early learning to provide parents with the information they need to optimize their children's physical, emotional, and intellectual development;
Improve the training, continuing education, professional development, and living wages of early childhood educators;
Support greater access to evidence-based programs that support parents and families in fostering their children's development; and
Promote and share ongoing program innovation and improvement, especially for those programs supporting parents and informal caregivers.
In 2015, Common Sense will launch new programmatic efforts to distribute easy-to-use development and learning materials on technology, media, and early childhood in both English and Spanish. These materials will be distributed to millions of parents as well as a national network of early education providers under the rubric "Turn Screen Time into Learning Time."
About Common Sense
Common Sense is the nation's leading nonprofit organization dedicated to helping families and educators thrive in a world of media and technology. We rate, educate, and advocate on behalf of kids, families, and schools. Common Sense offers the world's largest and most trusted library of age-based ratings and reviews of all types of content targeted at kids, and our research-based curriculum and tools are used in over 79,000 U.S. schools. For more information, go to www.commonsense.org.
About Invest in US
Invest in US is a challenge to public and private partners, business leaders, philanthropists, advocates, elected officials, and you to build a better nation by expanding high-quality early childhood education programs for children from birth through age 5. When we invest in them, we invest in us.
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