Useful web links

Advocacy and Public Policy | Education | Literacy | Professional Resources | Research | State and Federal Government Agencies

Advocacy and Public Policy

• Child Welfare League of America (CWLA)
  http://www.cwla.org/
  CWLA is an association of nearly 800 public and private nonprofit agencies that assist more than 3.5 million abused and neglected children and their families each year. CWLA works through its member agencies to provide training, consultation, conferences, and publications that support children, youth, and families.

• Voices for Illinois Children (VIC)
  http://www.voices4kids.org/
  VIC is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, statewide group of child advocates with a broad agenda focused on child and family well-being. Current VIC policy projects include promoting the availability of preschool for all children to those parents who want it, providing crucial services for young children with special needs, expanding home-visiting programs for at-risk families, promoting after-school programs for at-risk youth, and reforming school funding in Illinois .

Education

• Bilingual Early Childhood Certification Assistance Program
• The Council for Exceptional Children
• Early Childhood Educators' and Family Web Corner
• Family Education Network
• Family Enrichment Program
• Hearing and Vision Connections: Early Intervention Training and Technical Assistance
• Illinois Early Learning Standards (August 2004)
• National Association for the Education of Young Children
• National Network for Child Care
• Zero to Three

Literacy

• American Library Association
• Book Links
• The Booklist
• International Reading Association
• Illinois Reading Council
• Barahona Center for the Study of Books in Spanish for Children & Adolescents

Parent Support

• Family Enrichment Program (FEP)
  http://www.fepecho.com/
  FEP is an Illinois State Board of Education Birth to Three Prevention Initiative Program. FEP seeks to prevent school failure by working with at-risk infants and toddlers and their parents. Services include playgroups for infants and toddlers, parent support groups, wellness groups, dads' groups, home visits, and family field trips. Developmental screenings are provided to all children, and referrals to the early intervention system are made as needed.

• Hearing and Vision Connections: Early Intervention Training and Technical Assistance (HVC)
  http://morgan.k12.il.us/isd/hvc/index.aspx
  HVC is funded by the Illinois Department of Human Services and provides training and technical assistance to any parent or early intervention provider who serves infants, toddlers, or young children who are deaf, hard of hearing, or visually impaired.

Professional Development

• Clearinghouse on Early Education and Parenting
  http://ceep.crc.uiuc.edu
  CEEP, located at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, maintains an archive of ERIC/EECE Digests and publications and produces a bilingual (Spanish and English), peer-reviewed, Internet-only journal titled Early Childhood Research & Practice . CEEP also produces publications and videos on early education and parenting (often in both English and Spanish).

• Council for Exceptional Children (CEC)
  http://www.cec.sped.org
  CEC is dedicated to improving educational outcomes for individuals with exceptionalities, students with disabilities, and/or the gifted. CEC advocates for appropriate governmental policies, sets professional standards, provides continual professional development, advocates for underserved individuals with exceptionalities, and helps professionals obtain conditions and resources necessary for effective professional practice.

• Early Childhood Standards Project (ECSP)
  http://www.pdaobserve.org/
  The ECSP Project is a pilot program of the Illinois State Board of Education's Early Childhood Division. It is built around Work Sampling System Illinois , the Illinois version of the nationally known Work Sampling System used to assess the cognitive, social-emotional, and physical development of young children. The goal of the ECSP Project is to help teachers record faster, more accurate, and more timely observations by using a Palm Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) and an associated Web-based database.

• Gateways to Opportunity (Gateways)
  http://ilgateways.com/
  Gateways is the Illinois early care and education professional development network. The Gateways Web site includes information on careers in early care and education, a higher education directory, a job board, financial information for individuals and programs, a description of credentials available in early care and education in Illinois , and information on finding a Professional Development Advisor (PDA) who offers free assistance to help individuals achieve their professional development goals

• Illinois Early Childhood Intervention Clearinghouse (ECI)
  http://www.eiclearinghouse.org/
  ECI, funded by the Illinois Department of Human Services, provides library and information services on early intervention issues throughout Illinois . The Clearinghouse provides resources related to health, education, disabilities, and the development of infants and young children.

• Illinois Early Learning Project (IEL)
  http://illinoisearlylearning.org
  IEL provides evidence-based information on early care and education for parents, caregivers, and teachers of young children in Illinois . The Web site offers tip sheets for caregivers and parents, resources for implementing the Illinois Early Learning Standards, a question-answering service, a statewide calendar of events for parents and caregivers, a database of links to "the best of the Web" on topics related to early care and education, and "Ask An Expert" events. 

• Illinois STARnet
  http://www.thecenterweb.org/starnet/res-regions.html
  The Illinois State Board of Education funds the STARnet Project in six regions of the state. STARnet provides professional development resources for parents and professionals who work with young children from birth through age 8, with an emphasis on children with special needs.

• Kindergarten Corner (KC)
  http://www.isbe.state.il.us/earlychi/html/kindergarten_corner.htm
  The Kindergarten Corner is part of the Illinois State Board of Education Web site. KC includes information on the Illinois Early Learning Standards for Kindergarten which were unveiled on Kindergarten Day, September 12, 2006 . The site also includes an Illinois Kindergarten Standards training schedule, access to a Kindergarten Chatter discussion board, and links to resources that support developmentally appropriate practice.

• National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC)
  http://www.naeyc.org/
  NAEYC is a membership organization dedicated to improving the well-being of all young children with particular focus on the quality of educational and developmental services for all children from birth through age 8. NAEYC offers a range of professional development resources for its nearly 100,000 members, who span a national network of over 300 local, state, and regional Affiliates, and a growing global alliance of like-minded organizations.

• National Network for Child Care (NNCC) ( Note: this is a new Web address )
  http://www.nncc.org/Child.Dev/child.dev.page.html
  NNCC unites the expertise of many of the nation's leading universities through the outreach system of Cooperative Extension to share knowledge about children and child care from the vast resources of the landgrant universities. NNCC has child care and child development resources for parents as well as for practitioners in family child care, center-based care, and school-age child care program settings.

• ZERO TO THREE
  http://www.zerotothree.org/
  ZERO TO THREE is a national, nonprofit, multidisciplinary organization that supports the healthy development and well-being of infants, toddlers, and their families. Publications and reference guides to programs, projects and professional developmental services are available for parents and for professionals working in child care, child welfare, early intervention, and mental health program settings.

Research

• American Educational Research Association
• National Research Council

• Illinois STAR NET
• Illinois Early Childhood Intervention Clearinghouse
• Illinois Early Learning Project
• Early Childhood Standards Project (ECSP)
• Kindergarten Corner
  
• Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) Early Childhood Division
  http://www.isbe.state.il.us/earlychi/Default.htm
  The Early Childhood Education Division of ISBE develops and provides materials and support for implementation of the Illinois Early Learning Standards and their use in early childhood programs. The Early Childhood Division also supports programs that focus on children from birth to age 8, early intervention for at-risk students, pre-kindergarten programs, early literacy, and partnerships among schools, communities, and service providers.
  
• Office of English Language Acquisition, Language Enhancement, and Academic Achievement for Limited English Proficient Students (OELA)
  http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/oela/index.html?src=mr
  OELA helps ensure that children who are limited English proficient, including immigrant children and youth, attain English proficiency, develop high levels of academic achievement in English, and meet the same student academic achievement standards as all other children. OELA administers Title III of the No Child Left Behind Act (2001) and provides national leadership in promoting high-quality education for English language learners (ELLs).
  
• United States Department of Education (ED)
  http://www.ed.gov/index.jhtml
  ED was created in 1980 by combining offices from several federal agencies. Its mission is to ensure equal access to education and to promote educational excellence throughout the nation. ED oversees many projects and initiatives that support parents and programs that work with young children.
  
• Illinois Early Childhood Asset Map (IECAM)
  http://iecam.crc.uiuc.edu/index.html
  IECAM provides up-to-date demographic information and early childhood program inf or mation from state agencies, Head Start, and private sector child care. IECAM allows users to see—in maps generated by its Geographic Information System (GIS)—the location of all site-based early childhood services at the state level and in counties, townships, and legislative districts. Statistical information is also provided in data tables that can be printed or downloaded for use in proposals, reports, and planning documents. IECAM was developed in response to a request from the Illinois Early Learning Council. The University of Illinois' Early Childhood and Parenting (ECAP) Collaborative and Chicago Metropolis 2020 work together on the IECAM project, with financial support from several foundations and state agencies.