LENA in Virginia


Making every interaction count and transforming children's futures

LENA (Language ENvironment Analysis) is a national nonprofit on a mission to transform children's futures through early talk technology and data-driven programs. LENA works with a wide range of partner organizations to boost early brain development and improve kindergarten readiness for infants, toddlers, and preschoolers.

Since 2017, LENA has served 1,300 children and 240 early childhood educators in Virginia, and LENA technology has recorded over 2.5 million conversational turns. Put your community on the map!



1,300
children


240
teachers


2.5 million
CTs

LENA Grow offers evidence-based professional development for infant, toddler, and preschool teachers.
LENA Start builds school readiness and strengthens families with parent-group classes.
LENA Home adds an early language focus to any home visiting program.
LENA SP offers reliable, detailed language environment data in research and clinical applications.




LENA Grow counts toward the required annual professional development hours for Virginia child care licensing.
 
LENA also has crosswalks with Head Start, CLASS, The Pyramid Model, ZERO TO THREE, and more!





 Staff Member
“Investing in our youngest citizens at birth and continuing to do so throughout their school years makes smart economic sense. It is an investment in our future workforce, and the early childhood years form a critical foundation for a child’s future learning and life success.”
Barb Lito
Virginia Beach GrowSmart Coodinator

Interested in bringing LENA to your community?

LENA is scaling quickly and has a goal to impact over 100,000 children annually worldwide by 2025. Whether you're with a library, school district, CCR&R, state agency, university-community partnership, public health initiative, or any other organization interested in improving early childhood outcomes, we invite you to learn more about bringing LENA to your community.

 Staff Member

Connect with David Streibig,
Partner Development Specialist
DavidStreibig@LENA.org


Blog Posts

Read these and other stories about partner success stories and research findings in Virginia and beyond.


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QRIS and interaction: Do quality rating systems reflect individual experience?

Approximately one in four children experiences very little adult-child interaction, even within classrooms at centers that have achieved the highest QRIS rating possible.

Read more ...


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Five cities will replicate Providence Talks, offering LENA programs for parents and teachers citywide

Five cities have been selected to replicate Providence Talks, one of the first early language initiatives implemented at the municipal level, with support from Bloomberg Philanthropies.

Read more ...


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A teacher, a coach, and an administrator on LENA Grow's impact: Webinar highlights

Highlights from a webinar where we hear directly from a teacher, coach, and administrator using LENA Grow.

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On-Demand Webinars


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Evaluating LENA Grow's impact on early childhood education classrooms

While we’ve long known about the importance of early adult-child interactions, a research focus on children’s language experiences in child care classrooms has been long overdue.

Stream now ...


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Providence Talks Replication: Celebrating and Looking Ahead

In 2019, five U.S. cities were selected to receive a three-year grant to replicate the widely celebrated Providence Talks early literacy program. As the grant period draws to a close, we’re sharing their stories of what worked. 

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Supporting early educators now: Strategies for building a voice and a community

Being an early childhood educator has always been challenging, but it seems to be getting harder. Crashing into yet another COVID wave in 2022, retaining staff and making them feel valued is top of mind. Yet, more often than not, we forget to ask the most important stakeholders of all: the teachers themselves.

Stream now ...