These meetings are designed to provide professional development and technical assistance to state teams as they create strategic action plans to advance access and quality to the pre-kindergarten programs in their states. Resources and presentations for the meetings can be accessed below.
Advancing Prekindergarten in ALL STATES Meeting
June 25-27, 2006 in Big Sky, Montana
The meeting in Big Sky was designed to provide customized information and working time to assist in advancing prek in eight states: Idaho, Indiana, Mississippi, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah and Wyoming. Teams comprised of chief and deputy chief state school officers and their state early childhood directors, legislators, governors' representatives and child advocates convened to hear from experts and conduct planning to promote early childhood education in their states.
General conference information
Hyperlinked Agenda
Speaker Presentations
ADVANCING QUALITY PRE-K FOR ALL (ppt-pdf)
Sara Watson- Program Officer State Policy Initiatives
The Pew Charitable Trusts
BECOMING A CHAMPION FOR PREK--KEYNOTE ADDRESS
Representative LeRoy Dangeau, Arkansas General Assembly
ADVANCING PREK FROM DIFFERENT BEGINNING-PANEL OF STATE MODELS
Moderator--Stephanie Rubin, Pre-K Now
Chief State School Officer—Lana Seivers, Tennessee
Commissioner of Education (TN)
Child Advocate – Karen Schimke, Co-director, Winning Beginning NY
Campaign and President and CEO, Schuyler Center for
Analysis and Advocacy (NY)
Legislator – Rep. Roger Eddy, Illinois General Assembly (IL)
State Education Specialist – Ramona Paul, Assistant State Superintendent,
Oklahoma State Department of Education
SHAPING THE MESSAGE--ENGAGING “UNLIKELY” CHAMPIONS (ppt-pdf)
DeDe Dunevant, Director of Communications, Pre-K Now
Jeff Kirsch, Vice President, Fight Crime: Invest in Kids
Montana Welcome from State Superintendent
Linda McCulloch (ppt-pdf)
PREK SNAPSHOT: WHERE DO WE START? (ppt-pdf)
Libby Doggett, Executive Director, Pre-K Now
Steffanie Clothier, Program Director
The National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL)
Barbara Lussier, Executive Director, Office of Early Learning,
Tennessee Department of Education
tHE Benefits and Context of High Quality, Universal Pre-k (ppt-pdf)
Steve Barnett, Director, the National Institute for Early Education
Research (NIEER)
ASSURING SUCCESS FOR ALL KIDS--Rural/Indian/ELL Issues
Cathy Grace, Director of the National Center for Rural Early
Childhood Learning Initiatives (ppt-pdf)
Ramona Paul, Assistant State Superintendent,
Oklahoma State Department of Education (ppt-pdf)
WORKING TOOLS
SUMMARY OF STATE ACTIONS
Eastern States Regional Meeting
October 25-27, 2005
Charleston, South Carolina
The regional meeting for the easterm states was attended by 5 state teams, comprised of chief state school officers, deputy chiefs, state early childhood specialists, local and intermediate school district superintendents, and community partners.
General conference information
Hyperlinked Agenda
Speaker Presentations
The Evidence We Need: Prevention and Cost Effectiveness in Early Childhood
Programs -- The Chicago Child Parent Centers Longitudinal Study,
Arthur J. Reynolds
Before and After PREK
Why Birth to Three for School Success, Tammy Mann
Getting SCHOOLS "Ready", Susan Taylor
Transforming Learning Time: Extended Learning to Support Student Success,
Ayeola Fortune
Tending to the Domains of Early Learning
Social and Emotional Learning -- Challenges and Opportunities for PREK,
Jane Knitzer
Early Mathematics Education, Herbert P. Ginsburg
Building a Successful State PREK Campaign
The Pennsylvania Story, Joan Benso
The Arkansas Story, Paul Kelly
Middle States Regional Meeting
May 17-19, 2005
Ann Arbor, Michigan
The regional meeting for the middle states was attended by 9 state teams, comprised of chief state school officers, deputy chiefs, state early childhood specialists, and local and
intermediate school district superintendents.
General conference information
Hyperlinked Agenda
Speaker Presentations
The Evidence We Need: Perry Preschool at 40, Research Findings
on the Benefits of High Quality Pre-K, Larry Schweinhart
Issues of Culture, Language and Poverty in Supporting Successful
Implementation of Pre-K, Lynson Beaulieu
Issues of Accountability, Lindy Buch
Issues of Accountability, Tom Schultz
The Importance of Assessing Children's Progress, Susan Landry
Illinois Pre-K, Jerome Stermer and Kay Henderson
Wisconsin Pre-K, Jill Haglund and Rick Grobschmidt
Summary of State Actions 
Western States Regional Meeting
October 12-14, 2004
Portland, Oregon
The regional meeting for the western states
was attended by state teams representing
11 states and 2 territories. In addition to chiefs and local superintendents, this meeting was also convened in conjunction with the Council's Ready Schools Project. Visit the project site for additional information on Ready Schools.
General conference information
Agenda
Speaker Presentations (pdf)
Leadership at All Levels: Characteristics of Successful Leadership in
Advancing Pre-K, Vicki Phillips
All Together Now: State Experiences Using Community-Based Child
Care to Provide Pre-Kindergarten, Rachel Schumacher
Culturally Appropriate Reading Curriculum, Denny Hurtado
Place Matters: Addressing the Needs of Special Populations for
School Readiness, Charles Bruner
Early Learning and Low Income Children: Lessons from
Research, Jane Knitzer
Pre-Kindergarten: An "Inside" and "Outside" Game,
Libby Doggett and Ramona Paul
Resource List
Working Tools
Summary of State Actions