Buffett Early Childhood Institute

09/01/2026

“Our military families make huge sacrifices for us,” Buffett Institute Executive Director Walter Gilliam said. “The very least that we could do as a nation is to make sure that when they are sacrificing to protect us, that we also protect their children. I think we owe that to them.”

Nebraska Public Media News covered new data from the Buffett Institute on military child care gaps. Read the full story.

Finding childcare is a challenge for military families, especially with relocating often. In Omaha, the largest childcare gap is near Offutt Air Force Base, according to the Buffett Early Childhood Institute.

08/31/2026

In Head Start classrooms across Nebraska, the Buffett Institute, University of Nebraska at Kearney, and LENA are using cutting-edge LENA Grow technology to measure the back-and-forth verbal interactions between early educators and infants, toddlers, and preschoolers.

These “conversational turns” are key to children’s early language formation.

A nearly $100,000 University of Nebraska System Collaboration Initiative grant will allow researchers from the Institute, UNK, and University of Nebraska-Lincoln to conduct a deeper examination of data generated from the LENA Grow project.

Learn more: https://buffettinstitute.nebraska.edu/news-and-events/news/2026/08/buffett-early-childhood-institute-awarded-nu-research-grant-to-support-nebraska-early-literacy-work

08/28/2026

In her latest guest blog for the AASA, The School Superintendents Association, the Buffett Institute's Amy Schmidtke writes about the work it takes to incorporate early childhood programs and services into school systems that were designed to serve K-12 students.

"Most districts were never intentionally designed to function as birth-Grade 12 systems. Strengthening early childhood programming, we realized, required helping districts build the infrastructure that creates continuity across those earliest years."

A practical look at how districts fold early childhood goals into annual strategic planning to build systems that last.

08/27/2026

Explore our new Superintendents' Early Childhood Plan Annual Report, which shares the program’s impact from the 2025–26 academic year.

🔗 https://buff.ly/S5pyMfP

Highlights include:
— 10 participating districts
— More than 4,600 children and families supported
— 10 schools that have adopted the School as Hub approach, plus an additional six sites through the Omaha Public Schools Intensive Early Childhood partnership

Learning Community of Douglas and Sarpy Counties

08/26/2026

“The broader research community has a lot to learn from Indigenous research methodologies around relationships, respect, reciprocity, the knowledge that comes from being in place,” said Alexandra Gregory.

Gregory is an Australian Ph.D. student at the Menzies School of Health Research who worked with the University of Colorado Anschutz and the Buffett Institute's Michelle Sarche as part of The Fulbright Program.

Learn more about her research on Indigenous parenting and home visiting programs in our blog.

https://buffettinstitute.nebraska.edu/blog/2026/08/fulbright-scholar-studies-indigenous-parenting-across-countries

08/24/2026

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Don't miss out! Visit bit.ly/NECDAPathways for more info and start your application today!

08/24/2026

Buffett Institute Executive Director Walter Gilliam recently shared insights from the Institute’s research and policy work on military child care gaps during a OneOp webinar.

Military families often rely on off-base or community child care because of long waitlists on base, location, and other family needs. In communities like Bellevue, Nebraska, data show that some of the largest child care shortages are concentrated around Offutt Air Force Base.

Watch the full webinar: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwVbWxHl0dk

08/22/2026

Our 2026-27 Buffett Institute Graduate Scholars are conducting research with real-world implications for young children, their families, and caregivers.

With $25,000 each to fund their projects, Marisol Loza Hernandez, Rebecca Jack, and Paige Wernick from the UNMC Munroe-Meyer Institute and University of Nebraska-Lincoln will study:
💡 A group training for Spanish-speaking caregivers working with young children with autism on everyday living skills
💡How access to afterschool programs affects mothers’ ability to work, including their employment, earnings, and access to benefits
💡How toddler teachers make in-the-moment decisions during classroom interactions, a process known as pedagogical reasoning, and how their knowledge and experiences guide those decisions

Learn about the program and our Scholars, past and present: buffettinstitute.nebraska.edu/about-us/graduate-scholars

08/21/2026

ICYMI: The Buffett Institute's Amy Schmidtke and Alexandra Daro talked to the Omaha World-Herald about helping kids and families get ready for Kindergarten and how families make the decision about whether to start or delay school.

The Institute's Educational Practice team works closely with schools to develop strong early childhood programming that welcomes children and their families long before Kindergarten starts.

"They already feel at home at the school," Schmidtke said. "They already know that this is a place where they belong."

Read the full story.

Omaha's Buffett Institute hopes to demystify what it means to be kindergarten-ready as it works with school districts to start preparing for the transition earlier.

08/20/2026

This week, the Institute's Educational Practice team welcomed new speech-language assistants (SLAs) from Omaha Public Schools to onboard them in their new role.

Together, we focused on building relationships, exploring the SLA role, and taking a deep dive into language objectives to strengthen the skills needed to support student learning. We look forward to a great year ahead!