Quality Matters - Research and Statistics
Number of unique resources found: 116
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National Resource Center for Health and Safety in Child Care
Description: This is the Web site of the National Resource Center for Health and Safety in Child Care (NRC). The National Resource Center is located at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center in Denver, Colorado, and is funded by the Maternal and Child Health Bureau, U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, HRSA. NRC's primary mission is to promote health and safety in out-of-home child care settings throughout the nation.
Description: ZERO TO THREE is the nation's leading resource on the first three years of life. They are a national non-profit charitable organization whose aim is to strengthen and support families, practitioners and communities to promote the healthy development of babies and toddlers. The site contains information for both parents and professionals. Resources and links are available.
– Evaluation –
A Survey: Quality Practices, May 1999 (PDF)
Author: Early, Diane (2 more by this author); Richard Clifford; Carollee Howes
Description: "A national survey of 1,902 teachers of preschoolers reveals that teachers report that they are able, generally, to engage in the practices they endorse. Teachers were given a list of twenty-one practices and asked to rate..."
An Effectiveness-Based Evaluation of Five State Pre-Kindergarten Programs
Author: Wong, Vivian; Kwanghee Jung; W. Steven Barnett; Thomas D. Cook
Description: The Volume 27, Number 1 issue of the Journal of Policy Analysis and Management contains an article by Vivian C. Wong, Thomas D. Cook, W. Steven Barnett, and Kwanghee Jung who discuss the considerable methodological problems of comparing the impacts of Head Start with state-funded pre-kindergarten programs.
Author: Love, John (3 more by this author); Peter Z. Schochet; Alicia L. Meckstroth
Description: This article summarizes and analyzes research literature on the relationships between variations in child care quality and children's well-being and development in center-based and family child care.
Assessing Program Quality, February 1999 (PDF) 
Description: NCEDL researchers are developing the Early Intervention Services Assessment Scale (EISAS) to comprehensively assess the quality of early intervention services provided to young children with disabilities and their parents. This PDF document answers questions such as if the intervention programs effect the outcomes of children and family.
Child Care Quality: Does It Matter and Does It Need to Be Improved?
Author: Lowe Vandell, Deborah (1 more by this author); Barbara Wolfe
Description: This article reviews research literature on quality child care to answer the following questions: Does child care quality matter? Does child care quality need to be improved, and can it be improved? Is there an economic justification for public intervention to improve the quality of child care, especially for children from lower-income families?
Head Start FACES 2000: A Whole-Child Perspective on Program Performance
Author: Zill, Nicholas (1 more by this author); The CDM Group, Inc; Xtria; Westat
Description: In this study, researchers find that the quality of Head Start classrooms have been rated as consistently good using a number of indicators. Few Head Start classrooms were below a minimal level of quality. The Family and Child Experiences Survey is a nationally representative, quasi-experimental study describing children and families served by Head Start programs.
Missouri: The Quality Rating System and Infant/Toddler Responsive Caregiving Checklist
Description: The checklist was initially developed to evaluate the intentional teaching of skills and activities that promote the healthy growth and development of infants and toddlers. The checklist assesses the degree to which a program's activities and instruction nurture the social/emotional, physical, and cognitive development of infants and toddlers; a specific curriculum is not assessed nor required to be used.
The "I/T Checklist" was created by a workgroup convened by the OPEN Initiative at the Center for Family Policy & Research for the purpose of Missouri QRS. The development was supported by the Missouri Head Start State Collaboration Office, National Parents as Teachers, Zero to Three, Educare-Boone County, and many infant/toddler experts within the higher education system in Missouri.
Quality Practices for Infants and Toddlers with Disabilities and their Families
Description: The research goals of the Quality Practices for Infants and Toddlers with Disabilities and their Families study are to identify high quality early intervention services, develop a quality instrument to evaluate quality of services, investigate the relationship between quality of services and child and family outcomes, and identify child, family, and program characteristics that are correlated with positive outcomes.
The Effects of State Regulations on Childcare Prices and Choices
Description: An analysis of the effects of child care regulations on the price of child care, the type of care chosen, and the mothers' decisions to work.
– General Information –
Establishing a Level Foundation for Life: Mental Health Begins in Early Childhood
Description: This report from the National Scientific Council on the Developing Child summarizes in clear language why understanding how emotional well-being can be strengthened or disrupted in early childhood can help policymakers promote the kinds of environments and experiences that prevent problems and remediate early difficulties so they do not destabilize the developmental process.
Author: Pianta, Robert (2 more by this author); Carollee Howes; Margaret Burchinal; Donna Bryant; Richard Clifford; Diane Early; Oscar Barbarin
Description: This study draws from the National Center for Early Development and Learning’s Multi-State Pre-Kindergarten Study to evaluate the extent to which features of the ecology of pre-kindergarten programs (program, teacher, classroom attributes) in six states predict three forms of observed classroom quality and teacher–child interactions.This study is designed to have relevance for policy and to evaluate a model of the ecology of these early education settings by including some factors (such as teachers’ attitudes) that are not the direct focus of policy.
Description: This literature review provides information on full day kindergarten, what type of schedules are used, how common full-day programs are, what are characteristics of effective programs, what are the effects of full-day programs, and other resources.
Description: This website provides access to written materials and media (DVDs) about children’s development and how families and communities can help support them.
In 1997, Rob and Michele Reiner joined forces with leading child development experts to help raise public awareness about the critical importance the prenatal period through the first early years plays in a child’s healthy brain development. Already a renowned film director, Reiner turned his talents to helping educate parents on this, and other topics of interest to the caregivers of our youngest children.
Impact of Training and Education for Caregivers of Infants and Toddlers
Author: Kreader, J. (2 more by this author); Sharmila Lawrence; Daniel Ferguson
Description: This brief describes research findings on a small number of training initiatives targeting infant and toddler caregivers where quality was observed before and after training. Findings from these studies raise pertinent considerations for policymakers.
Indiana: Paths to QUALITY Infant/Toddler Specific Standards
Description: The Indiana quality rating and improvement system (QRIS), Paths to QUALITY, is a statewide voluntary system that includes infant and toddler standards and is designed for licensed child care centers, licensed family child care homes, and unlicensed registered faith-based organizations. Statewide rollout of Paths to QUALITY began in January 2008 and was completed in January 2009. A study conducted by Purdue University is currently underway to assess the impact of the QRIS. This state example is part of CLASP's Charting Progress for Babies in Child Care project.
Infant and Toddler Child Care Arrangements
Author: Kreader, J. (2 more by this author); Sharmila Lawrence; Daniel Ferguson
Description: The research summarized in this policy brief identifies research findings looking at what care arrangements American parents make for their infants and toddlers while they are at work, school, or otherwise unavailable to provide care themselves. Research findings come from two nationally representative surveys: the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Birth Cohort, and the National Survey of America’s Families (NSAF), 2002. Additional research helps answer a second, related question: What factors influence the types of care arrangements made for this country’s children under age 3?
Infant and Toddler Child Care Quality
Author: Kreader, J. (2 more by this author); Sharmila Lawrence; Daniel Ferguson
Description: The research summarized in this policy brief identifies factors that tend to predict higher quality care of infants and toddlers within arrangement types—family child care, center care, and relative care—and describes the range of quality found in each type.
Kids Haven’t Changed; Kindergarten Has
Author: Pappano, Laura
Description: The Gesell Institute for Human Development undertook a study to determine how child development in 2010 relates to Gesell’s historic observations. The executive director of the Gesell Institute, says despite ramped-up expectations, including overtly academic work in kindergarten, study results reveal remarkable stability around ages at which most children reach cognitive milestones such as being able to count four pennies or draw a circle.
Lessons from Cost Modeling: The Link Between ECE Business Management and Program Quality
Author: Mitchell, Anne (13 more by this author); Louise Stoney
Description: This brief highlights key principals that have emerged from the Alliance for Early Childhood Finance cost modeling work for Early Childhood QRIS.
Licensing and Public Regulation of Early Childhood Programs
Description: NAEYC believes that it is the responsibility of the state and community to make certain that child care centers and providers are licensed and regulated in order to ensure the best possible care for our children.
New Charting Progress for Babies in Child Care Website
Description:
CLASP has redesigned the web resources for the Charting Progress for Babies in Child Care project. New pages for each of the project’s 15 recommendations feature easy-to-navigate tabs that contain:Research to “make the case” for the recommendation; A research bibliography; Policy ideas that states can use to move toward the recommendation; State examples including links to relevant legislation and regulations, a description of how the state developed and implemented the policy, and any cost data and evaluations or other data; and Online resources.
Users can also navigate to technical assistance tools that CLASP is developing to help states chart their own progress in improving infant/toddler care, as well as other related resources in CLASP’s Child Care and Early Education work.
Quality Child Care for Infants and Toddlers
Author: CYFERnet Program Editors, (9 more by this author)
Description: This month's Hot Topic focuses on what to look for in a child care setting for infants and toddlers, as well as some information on what "quality child care" is and what it means. CYFERnet has many great resources for parents to use in their search for quality child care for their infant or toddler.
Quality Early Education and Child Care From Birth to Kindergarten
Description: This policy statement states that "high-quality early education and child care for young children improves their health and promotes their development and learning." The American Academy of Pediatrics affords pediatricians the opportunity to promote the educational and social-emotional needs of young children with other advocacy groups.
This article includes information on the importance of high quality early care and education and child care and offers recommendations on what pediatricians can do to support high quality care.
Quality Rating & Improvement Systems for a Multi-Ethnic Society
Author: Bruner, Charles (13 more by this author); Aisha Ray; Michelle Stover Wright; Abby Copeman
Description: A Build Brief on Diversity and Equity. In this issue brief they discuss: why it is important to include cultural and linguistic responsiveness and anti-bias programming as aspects of early learning quality; a content-analysis of common QRIS components with respect to how they include issues of diversity and support for English-language learners; how states have included these issues in QRIS planning and development; and recommendations for how states can strengthen their QRIS rating components to be more culturally and linguistically competent and relevant.
Quality Rating and Improvement Systems as the Framework for Early Care and Education System Reform
Author: Mitchell, Anne (13 more by this author)
Description: This brief, written by Anne Mitchell for the BUILD Initiative, describes how QRIS can be the unifying framework for an early care and education system that includes providers from all sectors and all funding streams.
Recognition and Response: A Response to Intervention (RTI) Model for Early Childhood
Author: Buysse, Virginia (1 more by this author); Ellen Peisner-Feinber
Description: Recognition Response (R&R) is a model of RTI (Response to Intervention) for pre-k developed by researchers at the FPG Child Development Institute. It is designed to enhance teaching practices of language, literacy, and math with three-to-five year olds enrolled in center based early childhood programs.
Reinvesting in Child Care: State Infant/Toddler Policies - Establish Core Competencies
Description: This fact sheet highlights why it is important to establish a core body of knowledge, skills, and expertise that providers and caregivers should know and have, to care for babies and toddlers.
Core knowledge defines the content of the developmental needs of children birth to three while core competencies describe the skills that providers and caregivers should have to address the developmental needs of these very young children.
It includes recommendations for states child care policies.
Reinvesting in Child Care: State Infant/Toddler Policies - Improve Child Care Ratios and Group Sizes
Description: This fact sheet highlights why it is important to ensure that babies and toddlers in centers and family child care homes are in small groups with sufficient numbers of providers.
Research has found that when there are fewer children and more providers in smalls groups,group care situations are more likely to promote the well?being of babies and toddlers.
Numerous studies on center?based programs have identified links between “structural”
features of child care, such as provider-to?child ratios and group size, that can be regulated and child care provider behavior that is more positive and sensitive to individual
children in care; similar evidence has been found for family child care homes. States can
help programs move toward implementing smaller group sizes and better provider?to?child ratios through various mechanisms, such as requirements in licensing standards,
supports to programs, or incentive?based strategies.
It includes recommendations for states child care policies.
Reinvesting in Child Care: State Infant/Toddler Policies - Promoting Continuity of Care
Description: This fact sheet highlights why it is important to support continuous relationships between providers and caregivers and the children they care for, from when they enter child care to age 3.
Providers and caregivers who regularly care for very young children can have a positive
impact on child development by forming continuous, strong attachments with children.
It includes recommendations for states child care policies.
- More about "Reinvesting in Child Care: State Infant/Toddler Policies - Promoting Continuity of Care"
Description: This fact sheet highlights why it is important to recruit, maintain, and support diverse and culturally sensitive infant and toddler providers and caregivers.
One in four children under age 3 has one or more foreign?born parents. Young children’s social and emotional development is supported when there is cultural and
linguistic continuity between their experiences at home and in child care.
It includes recommendations for states child care policies.
Teachers’ Interactions with Children to be the Critical Ingredient for Effective Pre-K Programs
Author: Mashburn, Andrew
Description: A new national study, led by University of Virginia researcher Andrew J. Mashburn, finds that early childhood programs will benefit children most when they experience instructionally and emotionally supportive interactions with their teachers. A paper on the findings of the study, which involved 2,439 children enrolled in 671 pre-k classrooms in 11 states, is in the just-released issue of the journal Child Development.
The Case For Action: The Science of Early Childhood Development
Author: Shonkoff, Jack (7 more by this author)
Description: This pdf of a powerpoint presentation made to the National Governors Association details the science of early childhood development explaining brain development, stresses impact on brain development, mental health risk due to stress, intervention supports and brain development.
The Economic Promise of Investing in High-Quality Preschool
Description: This report, The Economic Promise of Investing in High-Quality Preschool, builds on CED's previous work in early education by providing the economic evidence that justifies increasing investments in preschool.
The Effects of State Regulations on Childcare Prices and Choices
Description: An analysis of the effects of child care regulations on the price of child care, the type of care chosen, and the mothers' decisions to work.
Description: This report examines the educational and life outcomes of at-risk children associated with three types of early childhood programs: publicly funded high quality preschool, high quality early childhood pilot programs, and evidenced-based home visitation programs.
The quality of school-age child care in after-school settings
Author: Little, Priscilla (6 more by this author)
Description: An overview of the features of high-quality after school settings, including an examination of key research on links between program quality and developmental outcomes, a review of current practice in program quality assessment, and a set of quality-related considerations for policymakers.
Author: Ackerman, Debra (6 more by this author); W. Steven Barnett
Description: This report reviews what is known about the impact of publicly funded preschool education on the supply of infant and toddler care, including: The availability and use of infant/toddler care; Influences on the supply of infant/toddler care and how today's supply compares to historic trends; and Potential links between preschool education policies and the supply and quality of infant/toddler care.
Author: Zaslow, Martha (2 more by this author); Ayonda Dent; Debra Weinstein; Michelle McNamara; Tamara Halle
Description: This white paper is an attempt to develop common set of definitions and measures for examining early childhood professional development for practitioners.
Limitations with existing measures of early childhood professional development, and a lack of a common set of definitions and measures, are creating gaps in our knowledge of the size and characteristics of the early childhood workforce. The Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation of the Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, has set as a goal to address this set of issues through the identification of a Recommended Common Core of Measures of Early Childhood Professional Development.
– Professional Development –
Building Integrated Professional Development Systems in Early Childhood: Recommendations for States
Description: This news brief presents recommendations for building an integrated professional development system in early childhood. These 3 recommendations were submitted to the Dept of Education's Listening and Learning about Early Learning Workforce and Professional Development Tour.
Determining Processes That Build Sustainable Teacher Accountability Systems
Description: Ongoing issues of teacher accountability have impelled several responses in the form of changes to current teacher evaluation practices. This TQ Research & Policy Brief reports preliminary findings and recommendations from a study of such change processes that Public Impact conducted for the National Comprehensive Center for Teacher Quality in three school districts and three state departments of education.
Licensing and Public Regulation of Early Childhood Programs
Description: NAEYC believes that it is the responsibility of the state and community to make certain that child care centers and providers are licensed and regulated in order to ensure the best possible care for our children.
National Comprehensive Center for Teacher Quality (TQ Center)
Description: The Teaching Quality (TQ) Source Web site brings together in-depth, reliable research on policies and programs to help policymakers and educators make informed decisions on teaching quality. The TQ Source identifies policies and initiatives that impact fundamental issues of teaching quality, including teacher preparation, recruitment, and retention. An interactive data tool permits dynamic analysis of local, state, and national trends; the online publications database brings together the best research in the field of teacher quality for fast, easy reference.
Role, Relevance, Reinvention: Higher Education in the Field of Early Care and Education
Author: Washington, Valora
Description: Research has continually shown that in order for children to have exceptional, high quality early care and education, they must have teachers and staff with specialized knowledge, skill, and experience. In a newly released paper, eight national organizations request that every college president address this by asking two questions: What is the current state of our early care and education programs? How can we make them better? The national partners recognize that this is a defining moment to establish public expectations for the care and education of young children, and the qualifications of those who provide early care and education services. Recommendations are included.
- More about "Role, Relevance, Reinvention: Higher Education in the Field of Early Care and Education"
Author: Bridges, Margaret (1 more by this author); Cariat, Jennifer
Description: This policy brief evaluates the first year progress of the child care staff retention incentive programs implemented in the Bay Area in Calif.
What Do We Mean by Professional Development in the Early Childhood Field?
Description: Without a shared understanding of what is meant by professional development, it
is difficult, if not impossible, to compare various professional development programs or determine
which components are most effective, for whom, and under what conditions.
This document presents a definition and conceptual framework for professional development in early childhood. Defining what is meant by professional development is intended to guide efforts aimed at ensuring that the early childhood workforce is highly qualified and effective in working with young children (birth through 8) and their families.
– Programming Resource –
An Effectiveness-Based Evaluation of Five State Pre-Kindergarten Programs
Author: Wong, Vivian; Kwanghee Jung; W. Steven Barnett; Thomas D. Cook
Description: The Volume 27, Number 1 issue of the Journal of Policy Analysis and Management contains an article by Vivian C. Wong, Thomas D. Cook, W. Steven Barnett, and Kwanghee Jung who discuss the considerable methodological problems of comparing the impacts of Head Start with state-funded pre-kindergarten programs.
Building Early Childhood Facilities: What States Can Do to Create Supply and Promote Quality
Author: Sussman, Carl (1 more by this author); Gillman, Amy
Description: This policy report describes the importance of expansion of states' early childhood programs. Facilities—the design, development, finance, and maintenance of physical places to house early care and education programs—are another key “infrastructure” issue that states have either begun to address or will need to address as they build a robust and rational early care and education system.
Child Care Information Exchange
Description: Child Care Information Exchange is a magazine for child care center directors. Visit their Web site to learn more about the magazine, search their archives, find a conference or product, and sign up for their free e-mail newsletter.
Continuity in Early Childhood: A Framework for Home, School, and Community Linkages
Description: This paper offers a framework for communities to develop the type of services that best nurture healthy families. It focuses on the importance of community connections in easing family transitions between service providers.
Determining Processes That Build Sustainable Teacher Accountability Systems
Description: Ongoing issues of teacher accountability have impelled several responses in the form of changes to current teacher evaluation practices. This TQ Research & Policy Brief reports preliminary findings and recommendations from a study of such change processes that Public Impact conducted for the National Comprehensive Center for Teacher Quality in three school districts and three state departments of education.
Head Start FACES 2000: A Whole-Child Perspective on Program Performance
Author: Zill, Nicholas (1 more by this author); The CDM Group, Inc; Xtria; Westat
Description: In this study, researchers find that the quality of Head Start classrooms have been rated as consistently good using a number of indicators. Few Head Start classrooms were below a minimal level of quality. The Family and Child Experiences Survey is a nationally representative, quasi-experimental study describing children and families served by Head Start programs.
Home Visitation Best Practices: A Review of the Literature
Description: The literature review on home visitation is based on a review of over 15 publications from 2000 to the present. This review of focuses on: (1) the research evaluating home visitation programs, (2) home visitation program best practices, and (3) model program profiles.
Ingredients for Quality Child Care
Author: Boschee, Marlys (1 more by this author); Geralyn M. Jacobs
Description: Child care has become an essential component of life in our society. Quality child care can make a significant difference in children's development. For many years researchers have been examining the aspects of child care that have a positive influence on children's development. This article will examine some of those elements, including the child care provider, child: staff ratio, the environment, safety, services, and relationships.
Licensing and Public Regulation of Early Childhood Programs
Description: NAEYC believes that it is the responsibility of the state and community to make certain that child care centers and providers are licensed and regulated in order to ensure the best possible care for our children.
Lifetime Effects: The High/Scope Perry Preschool Program Through Age 40 (2005)
Author: Schweinhart, Lawrence
Description: The High/Scope Perry Preschool Study is a study of the effects of a high-quality preschool program on children born in poverty. The study found early evidence of preschool program effects on children's readiness for school and that as adults at age 40, those who had attended the preschool program had higher earnings, were more likely to hold a job, had committed fewer crimes, and were more likely to have graduated from high school than adults who did not attend that preschool (control group).
Making Validated Educational Models Central in Preschool Standards
Author: Schweinhart, Lawrence (1 more by this author)
Description: This paper presents ideas for preschool educators and policy makers on how to develop validated educational models central in standards created for preschool education. The author proposes seven standards that programs should focus on to replicate validated educational models: comprehensiveness, documentation, logical consistency, capacity for faithful implementation, model effectiveness, training effectiveness, and capacity for and breadth of dissemination.
Meeting Great Expectations: Integrating Early Education Program Standards in Child Care
Author: Schumacher, Rachel (10 more by this author); Joan Lombardi; Kate Irish
Description: This report, part of the Foundation for Child Developments Working Paper Series, examines three strategies in seven states that have integrated program standards into child care by directly tying standards to funding: the delivery of state pre-kindergarten and Head Start in child care settings and the use of contracts including required standards with child care providers.
- More about "Meeting Great Expectations: Integrating Early Education Program Standards in Child Care"
National Comprehensive Center for Teacher Quality (TQ Center)
Description: The Teaching Quality (TQ) Source Web site brings together in-depth, reliable research on policies and programs to help policymakers and educators make informed decisions on teaching quality. The TQ Source identifies policies and initiatives that impact fundamental issues of teaching quality, including teacher preparation, recruitment, and retention. An interactive data tool permits dynamic analysis of local, state, and national trends; the online publications database brings together the best research in the field of teacher quality for fast, easy reference.
NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development
Description: This document contains the findings of the NICHG Study of Early Child Care. The researchers believe this to be one of the most comprehensive child care studies conducted to date, that examines how variations in child care in the early years are related to children's development. Current information is based on 13 years of data collection. Data is still being collected.
Description: This is the Web site of The Pathways Mapping Initiative (PMI). PMI was developed to increase access to reliable information about improving outcomes for children, families, and neighborhoods. PMI responds to communities, funders, and policy-makers who want to know "what works."
Promoting Children's Social and Emotional Development Through High-Quality Preschool
Author: Boyd, Judi (1 more by this author); Bodrova, Elena; Leong, Deborah J.; Barnett, W. Steven; Gomby, Deanna
Description: This policy brief describes the importance of social and emotional development for children in their earliest years and as they grow older and describes the characteristics of those preschool education programs that best support these aspects of development.
Quality Practices for Infants and Toddlers with Disabilities and their Families
Description: The research goals of the Quality Practices for Infants and Toddlers with Disabilities and their Families study are to identify high quality early intervention services, develop a quality instrument to evaluate quality of services, investigate the relationship between quality of services and child and family outcomes, and identify child, family, and program characteristics that are correlated with positive outcomes.
SpecialQuest Multimedia Training Library
Description: The SpecialQuest Multimedia Training Library supports the inclusion of young children with disabilities birth–five and their families, in early care and education settings. The SpecialQuest materials and approach have been used with over 5,000 participants nationwide, refined over the past ten years, and have been shown to create and sustain change. SpecialQuest Birth-Five provides these materials at no cost with funding from the Office of Head Start. May be used as professional development or inservice training for staff.
Materials include short videos, training scripts and handouts, and other materials for both early childhood programs and home visitation programs. Some are available in Spanish and other languages.
Successfully Supporting All Children in Early Childhood Education programs
Author: Worobey, Robin ; Shafer, Coleen; Wiley, Kerry
Description: This publication is a compilation of articles from the early childhood field in New York state that showcases promising practices, strategies and approaches used by providers to support the inclusion of children with developmental disabilities in early care and education programs.
Teacher Education, Wages Key to Outcomes
Description: This spotlight is a summary of a presentation at the Making Gains conference held at UNC-Chapel Hill in 1999. "Research shows that well educated and compensated teachers and providers are key elements to early childhood program quality and outcomes for children."
What Counts in the Development of Young Children's Number Knowledge?
Author: Levine, Susan Cohen (2 more by this author); Linda Whealton Surlyakham; Meredith Rowe; Janellen Huttenlocher; Elizabeth Gunderson
Description: In this observational study, Levine and colleagues demonstrate how the number talk of 44 parents from low and high socio-economic backgrounds is significantly related to their children’s later cardinal number knowledge (e.g., understanding that when counting one, two, three, four ducks, the word four refers to the set of ducks). Cardinal number knowledge is a critical aspect of young children’s mathematical development because of its relation to counting and the ability to solve number problems. The authors show that parents’ use of number words when toddlers were between the ages of 14 and 30 months was related to children’s cardinal knowledge at 46 months. The relationship between parents’ number word use and children’s cardinal knowledge was significant above and beyond socio-economic status. This suggests that parents use of number words while children are toddlers is a key factor in supporting children’s mathematical understanding at 4 years of age, and mathematical understanding during early childhood is related to elementary academic outcomes.
Worldwide Child Care and Education: The IEA Preprimary Project
Description: This is an overview of the IEA Preprimary Project with links to find out more about the project. The IEA Preprimary Project is a study of early childhood and education in 15 countries. "The purpose of the study was to identify the settings in which young children of various nations spend their time, to assess the "quality of life" for children in these settings, and to determine how these settings affect children's intellectual, social, and academic development at age 7."
– Research –
A Survey: Quality Practices, May 1999 (PDF)
Author: Early, Diane (2 more by this author); Richard Clifford; Carollee Howes
Description: "A national survey of 1,902 teachers of preschoolers reveals that teachers report that they are able, generally, to engage in the practices they endorse. Teachers were given a list of twenty-one practices and asked to rate..."
An Effectiveness-Based Evaluation of Five State Pre-Kindergarten Programs
Author: Wong, Vivian; Kwanghee Jung; W. Steven Barnett; Thomas D. Cook
Description: The Volume 27, Number 1 issue of the Journal of Policy Analysis and Management contains an article by Vivian C. Wong, Thomas D. Cook, W. Steven Barnett, and Kwanghee Jung who discuss the considerable methodological problems of comparing the impacts of Head Start with state-funded pre-kindergarten programs.
Author: Love, John (3 more by this author); Peter Z. Schochet; Alicia L. Meckstroth
Description: This article summarizes and analyzes research literature on the relationships between variations in child care quality and children's well-being and development in center-based and family child care.
Assessing Program Quality, February 1999 (PDF)
Description: NCEDL researchers are developing the Early Intervention Services Assessment Scale (EISAS) to comprehensively assess the quality of early intervention services provided to young children with disabilities and their parents. This PDF document answers questions such as if the intervention programs effect the outcomes of children and family.
Can A College Degree Help Preschoolers Learn?
Author: Barnett, W. Steven (12 more by this author)
Description: This fact sheet provides information on the effect of having a college educated teacher in preschool programs.
Better educated teachers have more positive, sensitive and responsive interactions with children, provide richer language and cognitive experiences and are less authoritarian, punitive and detached.
Child Care Quality: Does It Matter and Does It Need to Be Improved?
Author: Lowe Vandell, Deborah (1 more by this author); Barbara Wolfe
Description: This article reviews research literature on quality child care to answer the following questions: Does child care quality matter? Does child care quality need to be improved, and can it be improved? Is there an economic justification for public intervention to improve the quality of child care, especially for children from lower-income families?
Description: This report describes child care quality improvement measures adopted by 42 of the 50 states. It discusses the lack of evaluation of these improvements and some reasons why evaluation is not performed. The GAO recommends the Department of Health and Human Services include selected state quality improvement initiatives in a major impact evaluation of state child care subsidy strategies.
Child Outcome Standards in Pre-K Programs: What are Standards; What is Needed to Make Them Work?
Author: Bodrova, Elena (2 more by this author); Deborah Leong; Rima Shore
Description: This fact sheet provides information on standards for preschool; program standards and child outcome standards. Includes nine keys to effective prekindergarten standards.
Children's Emotional Development is Built into the Architecture of their Brains: Working Paper No. 2
Description: This report from the National Scientific Council on the Developing Child presents an overview of the scientific research on how a child's capacity to regulate emotions develops in a complex interaction with his or her environment and ongoing cognitive, motor, and social development. It then discusses the implications of this research for policies affecting young children, their caregivers, and service providers.
Class Size: What's the Best Fit?
Author: Barnett, W. Steven (12 more by this author); Karen Schulman; Rima Shore
Description: This fact sheet provides information on costs and guidance on comparing the benefits from smaller classes to those costs.
Closing the Gap Between What We Know and What We Do
Description: This 2007 publication from the National Scientific Council on the Developing Child offers a concise, clear overview of the science of early childhood and brain development as it relates to policies and programs that could make a significant difference in the lives of children—and all of society. It includes discussion of seven core concepts of development and their implications for policy and practice
Cost-Effective Investments in Children
Author: Isaac, Julia
Description: This report identifies four areas of investment that merit expanded Federal funding. America's future economic well-being will benefit from targeted investments to ensure that children have the skills to become tomorrow's adult workers, caregivers, taxpayers, and citizens. Target areas for a package of proposals totaling approximately $25 billion annually and $133 billion over a 5-year period include the following: (1) high-quality ECE programs for 3- and 4-year-old children; (2) nurse home-visiting programs to promote sound prenatal care and healthy development of infants and toddlers; (3) school reform with an emphasis on programs in high-poverty elementary schools that improves the acquisition of basic skills for all students; and (4) programs that reduce the incidence of teen pregnancy.
Debunking the Myths: Benefits of Preschool
Author: Ackerman, Debra (6 more by this author); W. Steven Barnett
Description: This fact sheet debunks myths about the benefits of preschool. Examples includes, only disadvantaged children benefit from preschool, children are prepared for school without prekindergarten, and other myths.
Determining Processes That Build Sustainable Teacher Accountability Systems
Description: Ongoing issues of teacher accountability have impelled several responses in the form of changes to current teacher evaluation practices. This TQ Research & Policy Brief reports preliminary findings and recommendations from a study of such change processes that Public Impact conducted for the National Comprehensive Center for Teacher Quality in three school districts and three state departments of education.
Differences in Child Care Quality in Rural and Non-Rural Areas
Author: Maher, Erin (1 more by this author); Becki Frestedt; Cathy Grace
Description: This study investigates one source of possible variation in child care quality—rural and non-rural differences. They examined the child care experiences of rural and non-rural children on one measure of child care quality, the number of children per adult, and its association with the cost of child care and receipt of government-funded child care subsidies through the Child Care Development Fund (CCDF) for qualifying low income families.
Author: Lowe Vandell, Deborah (1 more by this author); Jay Belsky; Laurence Steinberg; Nathan Vandergrift; Margaret Burchinal
Description: This report from the NICHD child care study found that, although the effects were small, teenagers who had the higher quality care did better academically than those given low-quality care or no care outside the home. The study also found that the more time children spent in child care outside the home, the more they were likely to engage in risky or impulsive behaviors at age 15 regardless of the quality of early care they had received. Those effects were also relatively small, and benefits did not differ between advantaged and disadvantaged children. The study's finding of persistent effects is consistent with the results of NIEER's meta-analysis of the entire literature, but also reinforces the notion that intensive educational programs are required if preschool is to make a substantive difference in the poor achievement of disadvantaged children.
The study appears in Child Development.
Does Preschool Education Policy Impact Infant/Toddler Care?
Author: Ackerman, Debra (6 more by this author); W. Steven Barnett
Description: This policy brief examines trends in supply and demand in the infant/toddler care market, reviews state and federal policies for infant/toddler care, and recommends policy changes that could ensure new preschool policies benefit infant/toddler care and avoid unintended negative consequences. Recommendations are included in the report.
Early Child Care Linked to Increases in Vocabulary, Some Problem Behaviors in Fifth and Sixth Grades
Author: Belsky, Jay; Griffin, James
Description: This article highlights findings from the NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development. Dr. Jay Belsky discusses the relationship between children who received higher quality child care and their vocabulary scores in 5th grade, and the relationship between time spent in center-based child care and behavior problems in upper elementary school. Researchers cautioned that the increase in vocabulary and problem behaviors was small, and that parenting quality was a much more important predictor of child development than was type, quantity, or quality, of child care.
Early Childhood Research and Policy Brief: Quality in Child Care Centers
Author: Love, John (3 more by this author); Loyd Little; Richard Clifford; Carollee Howes
Description: The purpose of Early Developments is to share the activities and findings from the center's many ongoing projects. Each issue also includes a special section on the National Center for Early Development & Learning (NCEDL), a five-year project examining critical issues in early childhood practices.
Early Childhood Research and Practice
Description: Early Childhood Research & Practice (ECRP), a peer-reviewed electronic journal sponsored by the Early Childhood and Parenting (ECAP) Collaborative at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, covers topics related to the development, care, and education of children from birth to approximately age 8. ECRP emphasizes articles reporting on practice-related research and development, and on issues related to practice, parent participation, and policy. ECRP also includes articles and essays that present opinions and reflections, and letters to the editor. Beginning with the Spring 2004 issue (Vol. 6, No. 1), ECRP is a fully bilingual (English and Spanish) journal. The full-text articles are available to read on-line.
Early Exposure to Toxic Substances Damages Brain Architecture: Working Paper No. 4
Description: This report from the National Scientific Council on the Developing Child summarizes the complex scientific research on which toxins present the greatest risk at various stages of brain development, addresses popular misconceptions about the relative risk and safety of some common substances, and suggests policies that can help reduce the enormous human and economic costs of exposure to toxins during development.
Early Intervention on a Large Scale
Author: Rolnick, Arthur; Rob Grunewald
Description: This report states that tax dollars spent on early childhood development provide high returns compared with investments in the public, and even private, sector. Some of these benefits are private gains for the children involved in the form of higher wages later in life. The authors argue that the broader economy also benefits because individuals who participate in high-quality early childhood development programs have greater skills than they otherwise would. A child's quality of life and the contributions that child makes to society as an adult can be traced to his/her first years of life. Conversely, without support during these early years, a child is more likely to drop out of school, depend on welfare benefits, and commit crime.
Early Literacy: Policy and Practice in the Preschool Years
Author: Strickland, Dorothy; Shannon Riley-Ayers
Description: This policy brief article synthesizes the body of professional knowledge about early literacy and offers research-based recommendations. Early literacy plays a key role in enabling the kind of early learning experiences that research shows are linked with academic achievement, reduced grade retention, higher graduation rates and enhanced productivity in adult life.
Effective Early Childhood Education Programs: A Systematic Review
Author: Chambers, Bette; Alan Cheung; Robert E. Slavin; Dewi Smith; Mary Laurenzano
Description: A recent paper from colleagues at Johns Hopkins University reviews and summarizes evaluations of 28 pre-k curricula, and uses the findings to rate the curricula's relative impact on learning. Of the 28 curricula, six were found to have strong evidence. All of the evaluations reviewed focused on cognitive outcomes, such as literacy and math skills, and most examined impacts through the end of the pre-k or kindergarten year, with a few tracking children's longer-term progress.
The researchers note that curricula with greater cognitive impacts tend to include specific, clearly defined objectives and well-designed learning experiences that support those objectives. The activities are highly interactive, emphasize giving children choices and foster their self-regulation ability. Successful curricula also provide teachers with sophisticated and continuous support for high-quality implementation
Enriching Children, Enriching the Nation: Public Investment in High-Quality Prekindergarten
Author: Lynch, Robert
Description: This book compares the costs, fiscal, earnings, and reduced crime benefits of a hypothetical high-quality prekindergarten program for children from low-income families and a hypothetical high-quality universal prekindergarten program. The executive summary is available on the Web at www.epi.org/content.cfm/book_enriching#exec. State profiles are available on the Web at www.epi.org/books/enriching/states/all-states.pdf.
You may purchase the book at this url.
Excessive Stress Disrupts the Architecture of the Developing Brain: Working Paper No. 3
Description: This report from the National Scientific Council on the Developing Child explains how significant adversity early in life can alter—in a lasting way—a child's capacity to learn and to adapt to stressful situations, how sensitive and responsive caregiving can buffer the effects of such stress, and how policies could be shaped to minimize the disruptive impacts of toxic stress on young children.
- More about "Excessive Stress Disrupts the Architecture of the Developing Brain: Working Paper No. 3"
Family, School and Community Involvement in School-Age Child Care Programs: Best Practices
Author: DeBord, Karen (61 more by this author); Tony Mallilo; Marilyn Martin
Description: This article is a report of the results of a study that evaluated 30 school-age programs serving high-risk populations. Directors were asked to identify practices they found successful in working with high risk children and families that enhance child care program support and foster involvement of the school, the family, and the community.
From Science to Policy: Research on Issues, Programs, and Policies in Early Care and Education
Author: Groark, Christina; Mark Greenberg; Robert McCall; Kelly Mehaffie
Description: This report was prepared for the Governor's Task Force on Early Childhood Education in Pennsylvania. It reports findings on best practices in early childhood education. Although the report was created for the state of Pennsylvania much of the information could be applicable to programs in other states.
Head Start FACES 2000: A Whole-Child Perspective on Program Performance
Author: Zill, Nicholas (1 more by this author); The CDM Group, Inc; Xtria; Westat
Description: In this study, researchers find that the quality of Head Start classrooms have been rated as consistently good using a number of indicators. Few Head Start classrooms were below a minimal level of quality. The Family and Child Experiences Survey is a nationally representative, quasi-experimental study describing children and families served by Head Start programs.
High-Quality Preschool: Why We Need It and What It Looks Like
Author: Espinosa, Linda (1 more by this author)
Description: This fact sheet provides information on the characteristics of high quality preschools, what it looks like and why we need it.
Increasing the Effectiveness of Preschool Programs
Author: Ackerman, Debra (6 more by this author); W. Steven Barnett
Description: This fact sheet provides information on increasing the effectiveness of preschool programs. Data on what we know and policy recommendations are included.
Investing in Head Start Teachers
Description: This fact sheet provides information on the effect of having a college educated teacher in Head Start programs.
Better educated teachers have more positive, sensitive and responsive interactions with children, provide richer language and cognitive experiences and are less authoritarian, punitive and detached.
Author: Naudeau, Sophie; Michelle J. Neuman; Alexandria Valerio; Leslie Kennedy Elder; Naoko Kataoka
Description: The World Bank created this early childhood development (ECD) guide in response to growing demand from project managers for advice and support to facilitate the policy dialogue on the topic of ECD and to help clients make and implement relevant choices on how to best invest in ECD in the context of their country’s economy and national priorities. This guide fills a gap in the literature by (1) distilling existing information in a user-friendly format of short notes, (2) providing practical information on recently relevant ECD topics, such as measuring child development outcomes through the identification and adaptation of relevant instruments, conditional cash transfers for families with young children, and so on, and (3) assessing the quality of the latest evidence on each topic and identifying the knowledge gaps for which additional experimentation and evaluation are required.
Description: This Web site provides information about KIDS Count initiatives throughout the United States. KIDS COUNT is a program of the Annie E. Casey Foundation.
Lifetime Effects: The High/Scope Perry Preschool Program Through Age 40 (2005)
Author: Schweinhart, Lawrence
Description: The High/Scope Perry Preschool Study is a study of the effects of a high-quality preschool program on children born in poverty. The study found early evidence of preschool program effects on children's readiness for school and that as adults at age 40, those who had attended the preschool program had higher earnings, were more likely to hold a job, had committed fewer crimes, and were more likely to have graduated from high school than adults who did not attend that preschool (control group).
Long-Term Outcomes of Early Childhood Programs - The Future of Children
Description: This journal examines the long-term effects of early childhood programs on cognitive and social outcomes, and delinquency. The journal also discusses changing demographics and sustainability issues.
Long-Term Studies Show Lasting Gains from Pre-K
Description: This article from the Preschool Matters publication (pg 10) examines NIEER researchers study that statistically summarized all the evidence since 1960 in Meta-Analysis of the Effects of Early Education Interventions on Cognitive and Social Development. "Overall, looking across the entire research literature over four decades--123 different studies--preschool has substantial impacts on cognitive development, on social and emotional development, and on schooling outcomes," says Barnett.
Low Wages = Low Quality: Solving the Real Preschool Teacher Crisis
Author: Barnett, W. Steven (12 more by this author)
Description: This fact sheet provides information on preschool teacher salaries and discusses the results of the low wages on the quality of programs.
Description: This report from the National Scientific Council on the Developing Child summarizes in clear language the most recent scientific advances regarding the importance of addressing emerging emotional and behavioral problems in the early years, and the implications of those findings for policy.
National Comprehensive Center for Teacher Quality (TQ Center)
Description: The Teaching Quality (TQ) Source Web site brings together in-depth, reliable research on policies and programs to help policymakers and educators make informed decisions on teaching quality. The TQ Source identifies policies and initiatives that impact fundamental issues of teaching quality, including teacher preparation, recruitment, and retention. An interactive data tool permits dynamic analysis of local, state, and national trends; the online publications database brings together the best research in the field of teacher quality for fast, easy reference.
NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development
Description: This document contains the findings of the NICHG Study of Early Child Care. The researchers believe this to be one of the most comprehensive child care studies conducted to date, that examines how variations in child care in the early years are related to children's development. Current information is based on 13 years of data collection. Data is still being collected.
Overlooked Benefits of Prekindergarten
Author: Schulman, Karen (4 more by this author)
Description: Studies have shown that high-quality prekindergarten can better prepare children for school, increase their chances of academic success, and even enable them to avoid welfare and crime later in life. But these are not the only positive outcomes of a high-quality pre-K experience. These studies also suggest that prekindergarten can strengthen a child's commitment and attitude toward school, enhance the parenting skills of children's parents, and have positive impacts on family relationships.
This report summarizes research findings about these wider benefits of early education.
Preschool’s Role in Fighting Childhood Obesity
Description: This article from the Preschool Matters publication examines the role of preschools in fighting obesity in early childhood. Research from Children's Activity and Movement in Preschools Study (CHAMPS) is summarized and the recommendation that preschools and teachers become more involved in promoting preschoolers' physical activity is presented.
Providing Preschool Education for All 4-Year-Olds: Lessons from Six State Journeys
Author: Ackerman, Debra (6 more by this author); W. Steven Barnett, Laura E. Hawkinson, Kirsty Brown, and Elizabeth A. McGonigle
Description: This policy brief examines the journeys of six states in achieving a plan for preschool for all. Over the last decade, state-funded preschool education programs have grown and now enroll more than one million children. However, preschool access in most states is limited to at-risk children. Three states currently offer "preschool for all" - Florida, Georgia and Oklahoma. Three other states are slated to have preschool for all by the next five years - Illinois, New York and West Virginia. Policy recommendations are included in the report.
Quality Care Does Mean Better Child Outcomes
Author: NCEDL Spotlights,
Description: This research brief highlights the findings of the "Cost, Quality, and Outcomes" which looked at the long-term effects of quality of child care on children's language, cognitive and social abilities.
Quality Early Education and Child Care From Birth to Kindergarten
Description: This policy statement states that "high-quality early education and child care for young children improves their health and promotes their development and learning." The American Academy of Pediatrics affords pediatricians the opportunity to promote the educational and social-emotional needs of young children with other advocacy groups.
This article includes information on the importance of high quality early care and education and child care and offers recommendations on what pediatricians can do to support high quality care.
Author: Love, John (3 more by this author)
Description: This policy brief discusses the ways quality may be defined in the case of child care, results of research studies, effects of quality on children, and what policy changes are needed to promote quality child care.
Quality in Child Care Centers - Fact Sheet
Author: Love, John (3 more by this author)
Description: This fact sheet highlights needed policy changes and results of research studies on quality of early child care.
Quality in early childhood care and education settings: A compendium of measures
Author: Halle, Tamara; Sherman, Juli; Hair, Elizabeth; Martin, Laurie; Tout, Kathryn; Wandner, Laura; Vick, Jessica; Flood, Mirjam; Weinstein, Debra
Description: This study reviews measures of the quality of early care and education settings to provide comparable information on existing measures that may be useful to researchers, practitioners, and policymakers. Profiles describe the purpose of the measure; the population and setting for which they are intended; procedures for administration; psychometric properties; as well as underlying constructs and scoring.
This Early Childhood Measures Profiles Compendium, created for the SEED (Science and the Ecology of Early Development) Consortium of federal agencies, includes information on child outcome measures in the following domains: approaches to learning, general cognitive skills, language, literacy, math,ongoing observations, social-emotional functioning, and Early Head Start. The format and topic headings for measures profiles used in the current compendium were modeled after the SEED compendium of Early Childhood Measures.
Quality Interventions for Early Care and Education QUINCE
Description: The goal of the QUINCE research study is to "determine the conditions under which very specific assessment based, on-site consultation models of child care provider training will enhance the quality of the family home or child care classroom and will also result in positive child change." The study is a multi-state study of two assessment based, individualized on-site consultation models: The Partnerships for Inclusion (PFI) consultation model and the Rameys' Immersion Training Excellence (RITE) consultation model.
Quality Practices for Infants and Toddlers with Disabilities and their Families
Description: The research goals of the Quality Practices for Infants and Toddlers with Disabilities and their Families study are to identify high quality early intervention services, develop a quality instrument to evaluate quality of services, investigate the relationship between quality of services and child and family outcomes, and identify child, family, and program characteristics that are correlated with positive outcomes.
Description: This website is provided by the International Reading Association and this section pertains to phonics instruction. Reading Online (ROL) is a peer-reviewed journal of the International Reading Association.
Phonics knowledge in the young child can be an excellent predictor of later reading success. There has been much discussion regarding the most effective way to teach phonics, but research has shown that whole-to-parts-to-whole strategies help students understand why the skills are being taught, how they make the task of reading easier and more enjoyable, and how reading can be a beneficial and enjoyable recreational activity.
Other research, websites, links, and resources are provided.
Regulations, quality care rarely match
Description: This research excerpt summarizes a study that analyzed the rules and regulations for center-based care from four states previously reviewed for the Cost, Quality, and Outcomes study. Researchers did a separate analysis comparing regulations for protecting the child versus regulations for enhancing child development.
Across the four states policies set higher standards for child protection than for enhancement of development.
Author: Leong, Deborah
Description: Deborah Leong discusses self-regulation or the executive function of young children from a number of theoretical perspectives, the challenges preschool teachers face in its absence, and its importance for later academic achievement. Leong is professor emerita of psychology at Metropolitan State College of Denver, and director for the Center for Improving Early Learning. She is also a research fellow at the National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER) at Rutgers University. Dr. Leong developed Tools of the Mind approach with Dr. Elena Bodrova, with whom she has written numerous books and articles on the Vygotskian approach. Research session at the 2009 CYFAR Conference
Teacher Education, Wages Key to Outcomes
Description: This spotlight is a summary of a presentation at the Making Gains conference held at UNC-Chapel Hill in 1999. "Research shows that well educated and compensated teachers and providers are key elements to early childhood program quality and outcomes for children."
The Benefits and Costs of Head Start
Author: Ludwig, Jens; Phillips, Deborah
Description: This article reviews other high quality preschool programs in addition to data on the effect of Head Start and concludes, "There is an accumulating body of suggestive evidence that Head Start is capable of generating long-term benefits and passes a benefit-cost test, at least for children who participated during the first few decades of the program. For today’s Head Start, we have rigorous evidence of shortterm impacts from a recent experimental evaluation. In the author's viewpoint, "In our view the key questions for expanding early childhood education are how, how much, and how soon, rather than if."
The Benefits of High-Quality Early Childhood Education Programs: What Makes the Difference?
Author: Galinsky, Ellen (2 more by this author)
Description: Ellen Galinsky takes a look at the factors associated with high-quality early education programs and explores what those programs did to have such a lasting impact decades later.
The Benefits of Investments in Early Development Around the Globe
Description: This article from the Preschool Matters publication examines a NIEER study that recently conducted a meta-analysis of studies that looked at 30 interventions with varying approaches in 23 countries in Europe, Asia, Africa, and Latin America. What NIEER found is encouraging: Regardless of the type of program, all had moderate positive effects in all domains of child development. The size of the long-term effects is similar to that found in a comprehensive meta-analysis of U.S. studies. On average, they were about one-quarter to one-third of a standard deviation, with cognitive effects at the higher end, which translates to a gain of about 5 points on an IQ test. Studies that evaluated effects at older ages showed positive effects being sustained through adulthood.
The Economic Benefits of High-Quality Early Childhood Programs: What Makes the Difference?
Author: Galinsky, Ellen (2 more by this author)
Description: The goal in writing this paper is to move the debates about high-quality early childhood programs beyond the boundaries where they have rested for years in order to trigger discussions across the country that address the following question: What can and should early childhood programs do to make a lasting difference in the lives of children, families and society and how can standards in early childhood education reflect these findings?
The Economic Benefits of High-Quality Early Childhood Programs: What Makes the Difference?
Author: Galinsky, Ellen (2 more by this author)
Description: The goal in writing this paper is to move the debates about high-quality early childhood programs beyond the boundaries where they have rested for years in order to trigger discussions across the country that address the following question: What can and should early childhood programs do to make a lasting difference in the lives of children, families and society and how can standards in early childhood education reflect these findings?
The Effects of State Regulations on Childcare Prices and Choices
Description: An analysis of the effects of child care regulations on the price of child care, the type of care chosen, and the mothers' decisions to work.
The Effects of the Physical Environment on Children's Development
Author: Kopko, Kimberly (7 more by this author)
Description: This newsbrief provides information about research by Dr. Gary Evans, a Cornell University environmental and developmental psychologist. His research shows that the physical environment—noise level, overcrowding, and housing and neighborhood quality—profoundly influences child development including academic achievement, cognitive, social and emotional development as well as parenting behavior. This is true regardless of income level.
Author: Dickinson, David; Peg Burchinal; Susan Neuman; Kathy Hirsh-Pasek; Roberta Golinkoff
Description: This policy brief provides a response to the Report on Early Literacy by the National Institute for Literacy. They urge the public (curriculum developers, instructional designers, teachers, parents, and policymakers) to not only look at the code skills , but to also heed the panel’s finding on
the importance of comprehensive language development and associated background knowledge, and conceptual development.
Author: Hustedt, Jason (1 more by this author); W. Steven Barnett, Kwanghee Jung, Linda D. Goetze
Description: The state of New Mexico funded the National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER) to carry out a comprehensive evaluation of the New Mexico PreK initiative, beginning in its first year of operation.
Established in 2005, New Mexico's state-funded prekindergarten initiative, New Mexico PreK, is one of the most recently started prekindergarten initiatives in the United States and has expanded quickly during the past four years. Findings and recommendations are included in the report.
The Timing and Quality of Early Experiences Combine to Shape Brain Architecture: Working Paper No. 5
Description: This report from the National Scientific Council on the Developing Child summarizes in clear language the most recent scientific advances in understanding the importance of sensitive periods on brain development, and the implications of those findings for policy.
The Universal vs. Targeted Debate: Should the United States Have Preschool for All?
Author: Barnett, W. Steven (12 more by this author); Kirsty Brown; Rima Shore
Description: This fact sheet provides information on the debate between universal preschool versus targeted preschool programs that are just for children meeting specific criteria. What we know about the debate and policy recommendations are included.
Author: Zaslow, Martha (2 more by this author); Jessica Vick Whittaker; Tamara Halle; Kathryn Tout; Bridget Lavelle
Description: The U.S. Department of Education recently released a review of the literature that is meant to help identify core features of effective professional development for early childhood educators. It includes research findings on: 1) strengthening human or social capital; 2) strengthening practices at institutions or organizations providing professional development; 3) strengthening early educator practices related to specific child outcomes; and, 4) strengthening overall quality in classroom or group settings.
Worldwide Child Care and Education: The IEA Preprimary Project
Description: This is an overview of the IEA Preprimary Project with links to find out more about the project. The IEA Preprimary Project is a study of early childhood and education in 15 countries. "The purpose of the study was to identify the settings in which young children of various nations spend their time, to assess the "quality of life" for children in these settings, and to determine how these settings affect children's intellectual, social, and academic development at age 7."
Yet More Evidence: Time to Beef Up Math and Science in Pre-K
Description: This article from the Preschool Matters publication (pg 4) examines research that has established mathematics and science as essential components of a comprehensive, high-quality early education program. Evidence is accruing that early success in mathematics contributes to later positive learning outcomes. This means we can no longer accept mediocre professional training and preparation and lackluster classroom and teaching supports for educators of young children. Teachers need to be prepared by their professional training to better understand children's mathematical development and competence and to learn best methods for encouraging and extending children's learning.
Young Children Develop in an Environment of Relationships: Working Paper No. 1
Description: This report from the National Scientific Council on the Developing Child summarizes the most current and reliable scientific research on the impact of relationships on all aspects of a child's development, and identifies ways to strengthen policies that affect those relationships in the early childhood years.