History and Observations

From left to right: Michael Feuer, Dean of the Graduate School of Education and Human Development at George Washington University, Louise Wiener, founder of Learning and Leadership in Families and Jinny Goldstein, Chairman of the Board of Learning and Leadership in Families at a LearnLead presentation at GWU in 2010.

Learning and Leadership in Families began as a research project under the auspices of the National Head Start Association in 1993 became an independent 501(c)3 at the end of 1995.  Its materials and programs have been tested with Head Start agencies, childcare providers and Title I elementary schools in the District of Columbia, Maryland, Virginia, Ohio, Florida, and Iowa. Major initiatives included Museum as a Resource, Messages of the Built Environment, Parenting for Literacy, an adaptation of Messages, the Perfectly Punctual Campaign and Community Builds: Family Workshops and Family Field Trips.

Each program used the learning model to provide a structure that helped adults plumb what they already knew, tie it to their own creativity and engage their children in playful learning and exploration. The learning through looking learning model and the basic logistics: adults before children, parents and teachers together or in parallel programs and child-centered use of cultural resources underpin all LearnLead’s programs.

Our initial program, Museum as a Resource (M/R) tested the thesis, resulting from national survey research, that adult-to-adult planning between museums and Head Start adults could result in meaningful outcomes for families with young children.

Messages of the Built Environment (Messages) a program designed in collaboration with American Architectural Foundation was launched in 1998. Messages built on lessons learned through Museum as a Resource and brought the process into neighborhoods and other familiar environments. Messages became the wellspring for multiple adaptations to address different settings for engaging parents or parents and children together. Messages also expanded the range of Family events and family field trips to. build community and strengthen parent/child skills.

The Perfectly Punctual Campaign, first tested in 2000, resulted from some friendly prodding from a LearnLead board member and leader within Local 400 of the United Food and Commercial Workers who asked LearnLead to explore how to use our work to strengthen the “soft-skills” critical to employability. Because consistent, on-time attendance was/is a big issue from the start of schooling forward, PPC was born. The biggest challenge was to build playfulness and impact comaraderie and playfulness into an otherwise heavy, intransigent topic.

Learning and Leadership in Families became a member agency of the United Way of the National Capital Region and the Combined Federal Campaign in 2001. 

We spent the next 15 years expanding and fine-tuning the Perfectly Punctual Campaign and developing adaptations of Messages to fit the needs of classroom and home-based programs, parent and child together (PACT) initiatives, and adult basic education. In 2015 LearnLead sunset, the Perfectly Punctual Campaign was integrated into Attendance Works and I became a Senior Fellow with Attendance Works.

Among the observations that I believe merit further testing and formal evaluation:

  • The value of visual vocabulary in promoting parents’ confidence as a teaching of their young children. Observation tools - lines, shapes, colors and patterns - provide a valuable structure for parents to feel comfortable and confident as they use what they know to engage with their children in conversation and learning. Neither the social emotional impact on each generation nor the level of change in children’s math or language development has been rigorously tested - but preliminary evaluation suggests this could be a valuable area to understand better.

  • Using the neighborhood as a set of props for learning can engage families in a myriad of productive ways. Exploring neighborhood spaces, places, people and things defines where we live and who we are. Integrating them into both formal and informal learning appears to support social and emotional growth, a sense of belonging and academic outcomes, especially math and geometry.

  • The potential of facilitated family field trips to strengthen the social fabric of communities across social and economic boundaries merits further exploration. Parents reported that both generations had fun and some reported returning to at least one of the sites on their own. In Fairfax County, some Head Start parents took their friend’s children along with their own on family field trips to give one another a much needed break. For the cost of a bus, some snacks and some rethinking of the role of cultural resources in the community, we may be able to expand community.

The progress made reflects the energy and creativity of the amazing staff and consultants with whom I had the privilege to work and the foundations and individuals who supported us. Thank you.

- Louise W. Wiener
Founder, Learning and Leadership in Families