Our Programs

Building Vocabulary for Emerging Readers (BVER)
The Building Vocabulary for Emergent Readers (BVER) Curriculum is the product of a three year grant federally funded by the Institute of Education Sciences.  The development and implementation of a vocabulary curriculum for use in kindergarten and first grade is the primary focus of this grant.  The curriculum is being developed by a team of teachers and researchers at the Children’s Learning Institute at the University of Texas Houston Health Science Center.  The curriculum development team is working in partnership with classroom teachers at HISD schools where the curriculum is being piloted and implemented.

Center for Clinical Neurosciences
The Center for Clinical Neurosciences is under the direction of Dr. Papanicolaou. The Center for Clinical Neurosciences research is central to the mission of the Children's Learning Institute as it contributes to the enhancement of children's lives through innovative integration of education, child development, and neuroscience models of cognition that form the backbone of our bench-to-classroom models of assessment and intervention service delivery programs. Of the approximately 20 magnetoencephalography (MEG) labs in North America, Dr. Papanicolaou's lab is the only one that has developed the capability to efficiently scan children. Current and future programs will benefit immeasurably from the application of Dr. Papanicolaou's expertise in neuroimaging to understanding neural mechanisms of normal development and recovery/reorganization of key neural networks in children with other neurologically-based disorders, such as epilepsy, traumatic brain injury, and complications of prematurity that constitute the majority of acquired disabling conditions in children.

Dan L. Duncan Children's Neurodevelopmental Clinic
The Dan L. Duncan Children's Neurodevelopmental Clinic's mission is to enhance children's opportunities for successful living by providing them with individualized research-based clinical services. A highly unique aspect is our focus on continuing to find the most effective approaches for correcting child developmental and learning problems through a Clinic structure that allows our research to inform the our practices.

CIRCLE Professional Development
The nationally recognized CIRCLE (Center for Improving the Readiness of Children for Learning and Education) framework, which includes teacher resources and mentoring, was created by CLI. The CIRCLE Professional Development program offers a research-proven, effective curriculum; places mentors in classrooms to help train and guide teachers through the curriculum; gives teachers access to the Web-based Professional Development program; and provides teachers with the ability to monitor the progress of each child.

Play and Learning Strategies (PALS)
The PALS curriculum, developed by faculty at CLI, teaches parents specific skills for interacting with their infants and toddlers that lead to better child outcomes, particularly in children from high-risk families. The program is designed to be facilitated by a trained parent educator who presents each session to the parent(s) and coaches the parent(s) in utilizing the specific techniques.

Raising a Reader (RAR)
The primary goal of this project is to determine the effectiveness of a school-based book exchange program, called Raising a Reader, and a school-based parent educational program, called Family Nights. These programs aim to improve the school readiness of 3- and 4-year-old children from economically disadvantaged backgrounds by increasing the frequency and quality of language and literacy activities in children's homes. Nearly 2000 children and families in Houston will participate between 2006 and 2009.

Reach Out and Read Texas (ROR-TX)
ROR is a national pediatric literacy program dedicated to making early literacy a standard part of pediatric primary healthcare. ROR's mission is to make early literacy a standard part of pediatric primary healthcare in Texas. Pediatricians encourage parents to read aloud to their young children and distribute books to their patients at all wellness check-ups from six months to five years of age. There are 1,200 pediatricians participating across Texas.

Data Analysis Work Group
The Data Analysis Work Group (DAWG) is instrumental in the management and analysis of data.  The faculty and staff of DAWG are experts in the design of research studies, development and evaluation of assessment instruments, and statistical analyses including general linear and nonlinear mixed models, structural equation models, and generalized linear models.

Texas Head Start State Collaboration Office (THSSCO)
Head Start is a Federal-State partnership begun in 1965 to promote healthy development in young children. In 1990, the Texas Head Start State Collaboration Office was created and funded to improve collaboration among Texas schools, social service agencies and other community programs related to or involved with early childhood education. There are seven priorities: education, family literacy, children with disabilities, health, childcare, community service, and welfare.

Texas Pre-Kindergarten Limited English Proficiency (LEP) Program
The Texas Pre-kindergarten Limited English Proficiency (LEP) Pilot Program is a two year program aimed at enhancing school readiness for English language learners. The purpose of the Texas Pre-kindergarten Limited English Proficiency (LEP grant is to implement, evaluate and document a successful multi-age program serving prekindergarten children (3-, 4-, and 5-year olds), using the Texas Early Education Model (TEEM) to provide research-based professional development, mentoring and  instructional activities to prepare ELL children to succeed in school

Texas Reading First Initiative
The Texas Reading First Initiative (TRFI) is part of the federal Reading First Initiative established through the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. This federal initiative is designed to provide professional development for teachers to implement scientifically-based reading programs, and to ensure accountability through ongoing, valid and reliable screening, diagnostic, and progress monitoring assessments. The overall goal is to help all students achieve reading mastery by the end of third grade.

Texas School Ready!™
Texas School Ready!™ is a program that certifies preschool education classrooms that effectively prepared their students for kindergarten. Texas School Ready! is administered by the Texas State Center for Early Childhood Development. We are very excited to be able to announce the first group of Texas School Ready!™ certified preschool classrooms!

Texas State Center for Early Childhood Development and the Texas Early Education Model (TEEM)
The State Center directs the Texas Early Education Model (TEEM) initiative. TEEM encourages shared resources among government-funded public and private child-care programs including non-profit and for-profit childcare centers, public school districts and Head Start. Key ingredients include: a partnership among childcare and early education programs, implementing a teacher training program (CIRCLE Professional Development), using research-based, state approved curriculum, and implementing a quality rating system to certify early childhood education programs as getting children ready for formal schooling.

TPRI
TPRI is a scientifically proven effective assessment tool developed by faculty at CLI. The TPRI provides a comprehensive picture of a student's reading and language arts development from kindergarten through third grade as well as a balanced and reliable approach to reading instruction.