SCI TV Show: Improving early education one step at a time


  • October 28, 2016
  • /   Reggie Dogan
  • /   video

The Studer Community Institute’s TV show this week highlights two local groups that are taking separate but similar paths in the journey to make Pensacola America’s First Early Learning City.

Vicki Pugh, program director for the Early Learning Coalition of Escambia County, showcases a project to help infants and toddlers learn.

The Coalition will use Language Environment Analysis, called the LENA system, in targeted centers to track the interactions between caregivers and infants and toddlers.

The LENA is a word pedometer that records up to 16 hours of audio. The file is collected and uploaded to a computer, where the number of words can be analyzed.

Inspired in part by Dana Suskind’s SCI-sponsored appearance in Pensacola and her work at the Thirty Million Words Initiative at the University of Chicago, the ELC aims to use the LENA system to reduce the learning gap between children of low-income families and the children of higher-income families.

At the Pensacola Lighthouse and Museum, the aim is to make the visit for families and tourists a more engaging experience for early learning.

Like the Coalition, the Pensacola Lighthouse and Museum is taking the steps to enhance early education.

Executive Director Jon Hill shares his plans to revamp signage and educational offerings to serve pre-kindergarten children who have traditionally been excluded from activities at the facility at Pensacola Naval Air Station.

The early learning project will include adding sight words and simple sentence learning boxes on interpretive panels for young readers. The Lighthouse steps will be numbered to help little children learn to count and an onsite facility will be revamped to include activities for children under 5 years old.

“The change is subtle, but we hope this will increase interest on the part of our younger guests,” Hill. Said.

Watch Shannon Nickinson and me interview Vicki Pugh and Jon Hill as part of the Institute’s goal of helping people understand their community and improving the quality of life for everyone.

To watch the show, click here.

The Institute’s TV show airs on BlabTV:

— Friday, Oct. 28, 6 p.m.

— Saturday, Oct. 29, 10 a.m. and 8 p.m.

— Sunday, Oct. 30, 8:30 a.m. and 4 p.m.

— Monday, Oct. 31, 6:30 a.m., 5:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m.

— Tuesday, Nov. 1, 6:30 a.m.

In Escambia County, BlabTV appears on:

— Cox, Ch. 6, HD Ch. 1006

— Bright House, Ch. 14

— Satellite Providers, Ch. 48

— AT&T Uverse, Ch. 48

In Santa Rosa:

— Mediacom, Ch. 21

— Satellite Providers, Ch. 48

— AT&T Uverse, Ch. 48

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