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LENA

Our goal is to build strong families and communities by increasing the amount of interactive talk between adult caregivers and children.

Early talk shapes a child's life. LENA shapes early talk by providing advanced language measurement technology and programs that help parents and educators talk more with children. Learn more at www.lena.org.

10/07/2026

Catch LENA's Senior Director of Partnerships, Jodi Whiteman, and Chief Growth Officer, Rocy Gomez O'Keefe, on stage in Atlanta next month at Read, Talk, Play, Thrive! A wonderful conference for Head Start leaders and educators.

They are presenting "Learning to read starts at birth: The power of conversational turns to support early literacy" at the literacy conference hosted with ZERO TO THREE's DTL team — digging into research from LENA Grow classrooms on how early conversational turns build the foundation for reading. They'll cover:

1) Understand research that links conversational turns to early language and literacy development.
2) Identify tools and resources to support early language and literacy skills.
3) Explore strategies to support both educators and children in developing foundational early language and literacy skills.

And you won't want to miss the talk of the town here at LENA: NEW TECH!

📍 Atlanta
🗓️ Wednesday, November 4, 10:15 AM–12:15 PM

If you're at the conference, don't miss it.

10/06/2026

When Mary-Katharine Hardin, CEO & Owner of STARS Academy brought LENA Grow to her program, she didn't realize it would change everything!

STARS Academy is a therapeutic preschool and pediatric therapy clinic in Batesville, Arkansas. The program has been serving children since 2009. The building looks a little different from a typical early childhood program — early childhood and developmental preschool classrooms sit right alongside physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy, and nursing, all under one roof.

This is a very special story of how LENA Grow strengthened the work and improved the outcomes for children at one special early childhood prescchol program in Arkansas.

Get the full story here >>> https://bit.ly/4AGIy9c

10/01/2026

"Don't just fund programs, but build the infrastructure for quality improvement." — Todd Klunk, W.K. Kellogg Foundation

Funding a program is one decision. Building the systems that help programs actually see and act on their own data is another.

On October 14 at 1:00 PM ET, we're exploring how state quality systems are evolving and what role interaction data plays as that infrastructure comes together. Program directors, state leaders, and quality improvement specialists are all welcome.

Register: https://hubs.la/Q04y99jh0

09/30/2026

States now have a new opportunity to strengthen their early childhood data systems: the PDG B-5 SMART Grant!

A lot of early childhood data tells states where a child is enrolled, which programs exist, how systems connect. And that absolutely matters. But what is a child actually experiencing once they're in that classroom?

Conversational turns are one of the few classroom-level indicators that answer that question directly, and connect straight back to child outcomes.

LENA can help states build that into their SMART Grant applications. Teams scoping a proposal are encouraged to connect with Jodi Whiteman, Senior Partnerships Director at [email protected] to talk through what interaction data could add to your proposal.

09/28/2026

In preparation for our October 14 webinar on evolving quality systems, we're sharing some of the data behind the conversation.

QRIS ratings are a valuable indicator of program-level quality. But they weren't built to capture what any single child experiences hour to hour. And they're not always indicative of a child's experience in the classroom.

Download the full research report to see what we found:https://hubs.la/Q04y2xZ-0

09/24/2026

Investing in the success of early childhood educators and caregivers IS investing in classroom quality.

How do we support these dedicated professionals in ways that actually make a difference? Expert panelists tackled this question in one of our webinars a while back. And we think it's important to bring it back to the surface. Experts explored how we can move beyond simply rating teacher performance to truly investing in educator success.

Hear what Mahdyeh has to say and read the full recap at https://hubs.la/Q04y6Z_P0

09/22/2026

In August, we premiered Every Interaction Counts, a short film following Nancy Sylvester and her team at Global Connections Learning Center in Jackson, Mississippi.

During the panel, Todd Klunk from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation offered a definition of quality that we're fans of:

"Quality is adults who are continuously improving how they engage children, a center that supports them in doing it, and children who experience richer relationships, more language, and stronger opportunities to learn every day."

On October 14, we're continuing this conversation in a new webinar: The Heart of Quality: Interaction Data as Quality Systems Evolve. We'll look at how state quality systems are evolving and what that means for program leaders navigating them.

We hope you'll save your seat for that by visiting https://hubs.la/Q04xYyz70

And then give the "Every Interaction Counts" short film a watch at https://hubs.la/Q04xYyyl0 !

09/17/2026

A preschool classroom moves through transitions all day long. The moments in between activities. From drop-off to centers. From potty time to snack. From cleanup to nap. By the end of the day, a teacher has guided a room full of children through many. And they do this every single day!

Responsive adult-child interactions with caregivers can be a cushion for preschoolers during these moments. We hope you'll read about how to make the most of preschool transitions in our newest blog post by visiting https://bit.ly/4gT8TJy

09/15/2026

Every state's quality rating system is built to answer one question: Is a program giving children a high-quality experience?

But states define "quality" differently, measure it differently, and communicate it differently. And as more states shift toward continuous improvement models instead of static ratings, knowing which indicators actually matter is more important than ever.

On October 14 at 1:00 PM ET, we're hosting a conversation about exactly that.

The Heart of Quality: Interaction Data as Quality Systems Evolve will explore how conversational turns — a key indicator of quality in early childhood settings — can give programs actionable insight, no matter where they're starting from.

Learn more about what we'll be covering and save your seat at https://bit.ly/46ru0MZ

09/14/2026

When we talk about improving literacy outcomes, early childhood teacher retention deserves a seat at that table.

What's one thing your program has done that's genuinely helped with educator retention? We'd love to hear it.

Address

361 Centennial Parkway, Suite 100
Louisville, CO
80027

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Monday	9am - 5pm
Tuesday	9am - 5pm
Wednesday	9am - 5pm
Thursday	9am - 5pm
Friday	9am - 5pm

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