Head Start Leader Calls EPIC "State of the Art"

April 13, 2010 - Amanda Bryans, director of Educational Development and Partnerships at the Office of Head Start (OHS), recently named a new Head Start curriculum developed by professors at Penn GSE as “state-of-the-art practice in early literacy."

EPIC (Evidence-Based Program for Integrated Curricula) intentionally focuses on essential early literacy skills while teaching children key social emotional skills that help keep them engaged in literacy and mathematics learning experiences. The curriculum was created by Penn GSE Professors John Fantuzzo, Vivian Gadsden, and Paul McDermott.

Bryans’ comments were part of “Symphony of Literacy,” a webcast program aired on April 1 by the OHS to highlight best practices in early literacy. Bryans explained that the webcast was inspired by her trip to see the work that was going on in the Philadelphia School District Head Start EPIC classrooms.

Subtitled “What Part Does the Alphabetic Principle Play?” the program focused on the skills that influence early literacy and provided classroom teachers with strategies to infuse the alphabetic principle into creative language-learning experiences for young children. 

Dr. Fantuzzo was a panelist for the webcast, along with Dr. Jerlean Daniel, executive director of the National Association for the Education of Young Children; and Dr. Joanne Knapp-Philo, director of the National Head Start Family Literacy Center. Dr. Barbara Dowling, National Head Start Fellow / Early Literacy Expert, served as the moderator. 

The program is available for viewing on the Head Start Early Childhood Learning & Knowledge Center website at http://www.eclkc.ohs.acf.hhs.gov/hslc

For more information about EPIC, visit the Penn Child Research Center website at http://www.gse.upenn.edu/child/projects/epic


Media contact: Jill DiSanto-Haines at 215-898-4820 or jdisanto@upenn.edu