Early Childhood Education Institute Executive Director, Cynthia DiCarlo, PhD Appointed by Governor Edwards to Children’s Cabinet Advisory Board

 

February 8, 2023

BATON ROUGE – According to NAEYC, there are 554,807 children in Louisiana from birth to age 8. Of these children, families pay an average of $7,724 annually for infant childcare and $6,906 annually for 4-year-old childcare.

554,807 children. They deserve the best lives possible. They deserve an advocate.

Cynthia DiCarlo, PhD, has been appointed by Governor John Bel Edwards as a member of the Children’s Cabinet Advisory Board for the state of Louisiana. Outside of her board membership, DiCarlo is extensively devoted to early childhood care and education, serving as the Executive Director of the LSU Early Childhood Education Institute (ECEI), Executive Director of the LSU Early Childhood Education Laboratory Preschool, Executive Director of the Louisiana Association for the Education for Young Children, and esteemed faculty member of the Early Childhood Education program at LSU.

The Children's Cabinet Advisory Board provides information and recommendations from the perspective of advocacy groups, service providers and parents on policies and programs relating to Louisiana children from birth-18. The board also serves as the governing body for the State of Louisiana responsible for coordinating funding and programmatic services at the state and local level, related to children and their families. It consists of the cabinet secretary of each state department and is chaired by the executive director of the Children’s Cabinet, who is appointed by the governor. 

In her role as a board member, DiCarlo plans to stop at no lengths to assist Louisiana children and their families in living a life free of poverty. 

“I'm excited to serve on the Children's Cabinet Advisory Board with other leaders in the state's early childhood community and lend the voice of both higher education and birth to three research and practice,” DiCarlo said. 

DiCarlo has spent her career in researching and implementing evidence-based practices in early childhood education and will bring this expertise to her position on the Children’s Cabinet Advisory Board. The mission of the ECEI, where DiCarlo serves as Executive Director, is to advocate for the early childhood professional, focus on research-based practices and the dissemination of that research. Similarly, the mission of the Children's Cabinet Advisory Board is to provide information and recommendations from the perspective of advocacy groups, service providers and parents on policies and programs relating to Louisiana children. Following her appointment, DiCarlo plans to put these mission statements into action during her time on the board to serve and advocate young Louisiana students and their families. 

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About ECEI:

The Early Childhood Education Institute at LSU is focused holistically on the early years, and fills a unique niche by targeting early care, specifically birth through age three. Holistic development invites collaboration from other disciplines in the study of recommended practice for young children. The ECE Institute at LSU aims to make LSU a leader in early care and education research, dissemination and advocacy on recommended practices. Through a balanced emphasis on research and education programs, recommended practices in the education and care of young children will be created, applied, evaluated and disseminated. Our focus is on developing expert early care practitioners who deliver high-quality early childhood programming, engage in research practices and advocate for the profession.

Visit the Early Childhood Education Institute at https://www.lsu.edu/chse/ece/index.php

About CHSE:

As a college within Louisiana’s flagship university, the College of Human Sciences & Education (CHSE) impacts the lives of individuals in our state, nation, and the world through our research, service, teaching, and scholarship. We offer programs through our five schools: School of Education, School of Leadership & Human Resource Development, School of Kinesiology, School of Library & Information Science, and School of Social Work. The University Laboratory School (ULS) is also under the college umbrella, enrolling approximately 1,400 K-12 students. ULS was named a National Blue Ribbon School of Excellence in Fall 2015. The college is home to the Early Childhood Education Laboratory Preschool (ECELP) which enrolls 175 children ages six weeks to four years old. The ECELP is a NAEYC accredited institution.

Visit the College of Human Sciences & Education at lsu.edu/chse.

Contact:
Gracyn Austin
gaustin@lsu.edu