Giving - A Case for Private Support

Imagine a world in which every child entered school on level footing, ready to learn and able to excel. In such a world, a larger percentage of children would complete high school and graduate college. A greater number of educated, qualified individuals would enter the workforce. Crime rates would be lower. This is the vision and very reachable goal of Susan Landry, PhD. and chief of Division of Developmental Pediatrics in The University of Texas Medical School at Houston (UT-Houston) and director of The Children's Learning Institute (CLI). CLI brings together the best and brightest from the fields of medicine, education and child development. CLI's goal is to create a quality learning environment for all children through classroom curriculum, teacher mentoring, clinical programs and applied research.

Founded in 2003 and part of the Department of Developmental Pediatrics at UT-Houston, CLI provides proven learning solutions derived from and supported by documented research.

Research shows that when children enter kindergarten prepared to learn, they have a much greater chance of success, eventually graduating high school, entering college and the workforce. A 15-year study reported by The University of Wisconsin-Madison and published in The Journal of the American Medical Association (285(18): 2339-2346, 2001) found that children who participated in preschool intervention for one or two years had a higher school completion rate (nearly 50% versus 38.5% for students not enrolled in preschool) and lower rates of juvenile arrests (16.9% vs. 25.1%) or violent arrests (9.0% vs. 15.3%). Dropout rates were lower as well (46.7% vs. 55.0%).

More of your tax dollars wind up funding prisons than schools. Texas has more corrections facilities than any other state in the country and spends more per prisoner than per student. A national survey showed Texas increased general fund spending on education by 47% over a 14-year period, but raised corrections spending by 346% over the same timeframe. Imagine a world where we spend more to educate our children than to reform them as adults. It can happen. You can help.

CLI's research-proven initiatives work, but private funding is needed to expand. State funding for education is inadequate. The National Education Association reported Texas spent an average of $7,142 per student in the 2004-2005 school year, a 1 percent drop from the previous year and nearly $1,500 below the national average. CLI can no longer depend on state and federal funding for research grants and program implementation. According to the New England Journal of Medicine (April 4, 2006), the National Institute of Health's (NIH) funding budget will decrease by 3.8% in fiscal year 2007. Fiscal year 2007 will mark the first time the NIH budget has been decreased in 37 years. Your help will expand CLI's initiatives across the state to benefit every child in Texas.

CLI's $45 million fundraising initiative offers several opportunities to support the important work of the faculty and staff as CLI plans for the future by striving to ensure that every child enters school on level footing, ready to learn and able to excel. Fundraising priorities include:

Name the Children's Learning Institute and Expand the Texas Early Education Model (TEEM) throughout the State of Texas. This includes: Enhancement of the school readiness program, TEEM, in classrooms across Texas by placing mentors in each classroom, increasing accessibility of the web-based professional development program, MCLASS: CIRCLET and the purchase of Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) to monitor the progress of each child in the program. The curriculum also includes a parent component, Play and Learning Strategies (PALS), providing the opportunity for parents to become engaged in their child's learning. The Texas Education Agency (TEA) contribution over 2 years is $15 million. A recent commitment from The Michael and Susan Dell Foundation of $2 million will help fund the cost of classroom mentors in 20 Texas communities and 1,000 classrooms. The Fall of 2006 will see the addition of 1,000 more classrooms.

Expand the Dan L. Duncan Children's Neurodevelopmental Clinic to enhance children's opportunities for successful living by providing them with individualized research-based clinical services. The clinic includes a team of experts available to assess a child's difficulty in learning and/or reading using the most advanced diagnostic tools available. Current work focuses on children with spina-bifida and impact on learning, reading disorders (including dyslexia), low birth weight babies with medical complications, head trauma, and children with pervasive disorders, such as autism. Further funding will allow the clinic to offer services through area school districts and community organizations making assessment and treatment accessible and affordable to all children in need. (Naming opportunities are available.)

Name and Establish Faculty Endowments to attract and retain the best and brightest minds to our institute. The ability to endow and recruit lead faculty is an important funding priority so research, including exploring the link between social and emotional development in young children, can continue. By creating faculty endowments, such as professorships or endowed chairs, we can recruit and retain professors and researchers of proven brilliance who are able to not only advance our research efforts, but who encourage and inspire the next generation of students under their tutelage.

Name, Endow and Expand the Early Childhood Math Readiness Assessment Program. Building on the proven success of the Texas Early Education Model the Math Readiness Assessment Program is a two year pilot teacher program that focuses on math readiness for economically disadvantage kindergarten and pre-school children in the City of Houston. There are currently 27 classrooms across Houston included in the study. The National Institute of Health has committed $3.6 million to the study and The Meadows Foundation has committed $180,000. Private funding will allow the math study to expand to include other cities in Texas and further the research on how to effectively teach math to three and four year olds while answering the ultimate question: What does it mean to be math ready?

Impact

CLI's research-proven initiatives work, yet need your help to expand. Being part of the vast network of The Texas Medical Center allows for a greater interdisciplinary approach to our work. The fulfillment of our $45 million funding goal will allow CLI to expand its programs and services across the state to benefit every child in Texas. Thus making the vision of ensuring every child enters school on level footing, ready to learn and able to excel a reality. It can happen. You can help.

For more information on funding opportunities or programs within the Children's Learning Institute please contact Karyn Ullman, Director of Development, at 713.500.3746 or Karyn.Ullman@uth.tmc.edu.