News

Category: Teacher Excellence Program

Porter-Leath teacher coaching program aims to professionalize early childhood education

This story was originally published by Chalkbeat. Sign up for their newsletters at ckbe.at/newsletters Samantha West, Chalkbeat Tennessee Dec 15, 6:00am EST   Clarissa Odom had her hands — and lap — full when a visitor stopped into her preschool classroom. Odom, a new infants teacher at a Porter-Leath center in Orange Mound, sat cross-legged on a colorful rug, bouncing two finicky babies looking for snuggles, one on each knee. At the same time, she tried to comfort a... Read More
at Thursday, December 15, 2022

Growing in Language and Literacy

Did you know that conversational turns are powerful? Conversational turns are simple back-and-forth alternations between a child and an adult. A turn has occurred when an adult speaks and a child follows, or vice versa, with no more than five seconds in between. Through Porter-Leath’s Teacher Excellence Program, early childhood educators across Memphis are learning about the daily impact of these conversational turns on the brain structure/function and socioemotional development of chil... Read More

Porter-Leath’s Teacher Excellence Program Partners with the University of Notre Dame

Recently, Porter-Leath’s Teacher Excellence Program established a partnership with the University of Notre Dame’s Wilson Sheehan Lab for Economic Opportunities (LEO). LEO helps a cohort of service providers across the nation apply scientific evaluation methods to better understand and share effective poverty interventions with the goal of using research to positively impact people.The partnership matches top researchers with passionate leaders in the social service sector to condu... Read More

Opening Soon: New Early Childhood Academy in Frayser

Porter-Leath to host virtual Grand Opening on March 26 MEMPHIS, Tennessee – Porter-Leath is proud to announce the upcoming opening of its newest Early Childhood Academy which will house preschool children ages six weeks to five and Porter-Leath’s Teacher Excellence Program. Made possible by community partners committed to high-quality early education for all Shelby County children regardless of ZIP code, the Early Childhood Academy in Frayser is a state-of-the-art preschool and t... Read More

Preschool teacher facing trauma through the eyes of a 4-year olds

Preschool is a place where teachers facilitate learning through play, where young children are discovering the world around them, making friends without a care in the world. A place where most teachers have a background in early childhood or child development, training in early care best practices and anticipating preparing young children for higher learning.  Preschool teachers often expect children to show up with a clean slate ready to absorb information, but unfortunately, young chil... Read More

Porter-Leath launches NEXT Memphis for Child Care Partners

MEMPHIS, Tennessee – Porter-Leath recently announced the launch of NEXT Memphis, a new initiative to increase the number of high-quality child care centers by offering significant resources, training, and support to community child care providers. Porter-Leath will recruit the inaugural class of 10 providers in late January 2020. Over the next 3 years, NEXT Memphis will build a network of 40 providers, serving over 7,000 children and families. NEXT Memphis is a shared service program m... Read More
at Wednesday, November 20, 2019

SESAME WORKSHOP SELECTS MEMPHIS AS NEW COMMUNITY FOR EARLY CHILDHOOD INITIATIVE

Pictured above: Jeanette Betancourt, Senior Vice President of U.S. Social Impact at Sesame Workshop with Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris Sesame Street in Communities announces partnership with ACE Awareness Foundation and Porter-Leath to provide resources and services to families and children Memphis, Tennessee- Sesame Workshop, the non-profit educational organization behind Sesame Street, has announced that Memphis, Tennessee is the next community selected for Sesame S... Read More
at Tuesday, December 4, 2018

PBS NewsHour Special about Porter-Leath to Air June 19, 2018

MEMPHIS, Tennessee – PBS NewsHour recently visited Memphis to report on Porter-Leath’s work in early childhood development and education. One of the most trusted news programs in television, PBS NewsHour has provided reliable reporting of national and international news for over 40 years. The program is seen by over 4 million weekly viewers. Scheduled to air June 19, the feature will follow Peabody Award-winning correspondent John Yang through a school day at Porter-Leath’s... Read More
Posted by Mary Braddock at Monday, June 18, 2018