U.S. Department of Education Awards Congressionally Directed Grant to Mississippi State University for National Center for Rural Early Childhood Learning Initiatives

AUG. 14, 2004 | The U.S. Department of Education has awarded a $2.187 million grant to Mississippi State University (MSU) for the National Center for Rural Early Childhood Learning Initiatives.

“The National Center for Rural Early Childhood Learning Initiatives provides a national research base to study the unique challenges that face young children, their caregivers, and educators in rural America. I am pleased that the Department of Education is supporting Mississippi State University's efforts to spearhead this new area of research,” U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran of Mississippi commented. Sen. Cochran supported legislation to fund the center.

Cathy Grace, Ed.D., a professor of curriculum and instruction at MSU and director of the MSU Early Childhood Institute, will direct the new center. Dr. Grace has 30 years of experience in early childhood policy and practice, most of it focused on rural issues.

 “We are very pleased to have the confidence of Senator Cochran and the U.S. Department of Education as we expand our research to other areas of rural America,” Dr. Grace said. “In addition, numerous agencies and private foundations have supported our research on early childhood services. Without the early support of the U.S. Department of Education; the Mississippi Departments of Education, Human Services, and Health; the Day Foundation; the Barksdale Reading Institute; the Kellogg Foundation; the Children’s Defense Fund; and the Mississippi Head Start Directors Association, we could not have conducted the early childhood services research that Mississippi State has already begun.”

“There are clear gaps in what we know about how to help economically and socially disadvantaged families in remote rural areas to join the mainstream of American life. The challenges are very different than in suburban and urban areas, where early childhood education, family support, and health care services can achieve some economies of scale,” she said.

“Our strategy will be to identify the hidden neighborhoods of need in rural America and evaluate how effective early intervention must be adapted to accommodate long distances, shortages of qualified personnel, and, in some places, generations of entrenched poverty,” Dr. Grace added.