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1 – 10 of over 49000Carolina C. Felix and David E. Frisvold
In this chapter, we discuss whether early-childhood investments in low-income children could lead to a lasting impact on health outcomes. We note that such investments could…
Abstract
In this chapter, we discuss whether early-childhood investments in low-income children could lead to a lasting impact on health outcomes. We note that such investments could improve adolescent and adult health by increasing child health, increasing educational attainment, or influencing parents' behaviors. Model preschool programs, such as the High/Scope Perry Preschool Program and the Carolina Abecedarian Program, have been successful in increasing the educational attainment and health behaviors of low-income children. The Head Start program, which is the largest public investment in low-income, preschool-aged children in the United States, has also improved child health and educational attainment.
Although there is extensive research on the impact of Head Start participation, there has been little research on the impact on risky behaviors in adolescence. Using data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) and its Child Development Supplements (CDS), we examine the impact of Head Start participation on smoking, alcohol use, and drug use throughout adolescence and the extent to which varying degrees of selection on unobservables influence this relationship.
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Rena A. Hallam, Myae Han, Jennifer Vu and Jason T. Hustedt
Family engagement is a central tenet of high-quality early education practice. However, the ways in which programs interact with families have varied significantly over time and…
Abstract
Family engagement is a central tenet of high-quality early education practice. However, the ways in which programs interact with families have varied significantly over time and in relationship to program type. This chapter extends traditional notions of family involvement by emphasizing the potential of early care and education programs to effectively support parents and other primary caregivers in enhancing daily interactions with their children. Specifically, home visits are described as an important mechanism to influence parent-child interaction particularly when intentional, evidence-based curricula are employed. In recent years, there has been an increasing focus on developing and implementing such home visiting models. In this chapter, we describe a specific example of the integration of the Promoting First Relationships (PFR) parent-child interaction curriculum (Kelly, Zuckerman, Sandoval, & Buehlman, 2008) into home visits in both home and center-based Early Head Start practice. Implementation aspects for enhancing existing family engagement strategies with an intentional home visiting curriculum are discussed with recommendations for future programming and research.
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Angela Anning, Mog Ball, Jay Belsky and Edward Melhuish
This article focuses on the design and application of an instrument, the Programme Variability Rating Scale (PVRS), to measure the effectiveness of a complex social intervention…
Abstract
This article focuses on the design and application of an instrument, the Programme Variability Rating Scale (PVRS), to measure the effectiveness of a complex social intervention in the UK. Sure Start aimed to improve outcomes for children aged under four years living in disadvantaged areas on a wide range of health, educational and social indicators. The PVRS was devised for use in the National Evaluation of Sure Start (NESS) to measure programme proficiency. It consisted of 18 dimensions (eg. parental empowerment, user identification, flexibility of service delivery), each with seven levels of proficiency. It was applied to 150 Sure Start local programmes involved in a longitudinal study of the impact of the intervention on a range of child and parental outcomes. Ratings of more or less proficient processes were related, using discriminant‐function analysis, with the impact outcomes from the cross‐sectional study of almost 20,000 children. The 18 dimensions of proficiency of the PVRS made a significant differentiation between the most and least effective programmes.
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Ruth Alfaro Piker and Abigail M. Jewkes
The nature of early care and education (ECE) programs in the United States, serving children from birth through age eight, has shifted dramatically in the last 20 years. With his…
Abstract
Purpose
The nature of early care and education (ECE) programs in the United States, serving children from birth through age eight, has shifted dramatically in the last 20 years. With his 2013 State of the Union address, President Obama positioned ECE at the top of his educational reform agenda. His acknowledgment of the importance of the early years in providing a foundation for children’s lifelong learning and the critical need for national reform is welcoming to those of us in the field; yet, we meet it with some trepidation. ECE has a history of fragmented services for children and families, relying primarily on inconsistent state funds. Additionally, the pressure to be more competitive with our global counterparts has led to an academic push down at all levels of education, including ECE, rather than an increase in support for schools to meet the diverse needs of young children. The President’s proposed initiative further contributes to this pressure on our youngest children, their families, and their ECE caregivers.
Design/methodology/approach
In this chapter, we examine the current state of the ECE field, with an emphasis on the years prior to kindergarten.
Findings
We analyze two federal ECE initiatives, and argue for a return to the original purposes of ECE that best serve young children and families.
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Brenda Jones Harden, Brandee Feola, Colleen Morrison, Shelby Brown, Laura Jimenez Parra and Andrea Buhler Wassman
Children experience toxic stress if there is pronounced activation of their stress-response systems, in situations in which they do not have stable caregiving. Due to their…
Abstract
Children experience toxic stress if there is pronounced activation of their stress-response systems, in situations in which they do not have stable caregiving. Due to their exposure to multiple poverty-related risks, African American children may be more susceptible to exposure to toxic stress. Toxic stress affects young children’s brain and neurophysiologic functioning, which leads to a wide range of deleterious health, developmental, and mental health outcomes. Given the benefits of early care and education (ECE) for African American young children, ECE may represent a compensating experience for this group of children, and promote their positive development.
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Kristen E. Darling, Deborah Seok, Patti Banghart, Kerensa Nagle, Marybeth Todd and Nadia S. Orfali
The purpose of this paper is to examine Conscious Discipline’s (CD) Parenting Education Curriculum (CD PEC), the parenting component of CD’s research-based social and emotional…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine Conscious Discipline’s (CD) Parenting Education Curriculum (CD PEC), the parenting component of CD’s research-based social and emotional learning program. CD aims to change child behavior by changing how adults understand and manage their own behaviors and emotions. Researchers explored CD PEC’s association with improved parenting skills, parent–child relationships and child behavior and emotion management.
Design/methodology/approach
During pre- and post-site visits, parents in four Head Start programs completed the Attentive Parenting Survey (n=25) and interviews (n=19); and 20 staff were also interviewed.
Findings
Parents reported that CD PEC shifted their perspectives and practices for managing children’s challenging behaviors, improved parent–child relationships and resulted in decreased child behavior problems.
Research limitations/implications
The study was correlational, based on self-report, and had a small sample with no comparison group.
Practical implications
This study supports CD PEC as a means of shifting parenting practices, relationships and child behavior by focusing on adult social-emotional skills and self-regulation.
Social implications
This study provides preliminary evidence that addressing the social-emotional needs of adults is a viable step to helping children improve their social skills, emotion regulation and general behavior, which have all been linked to later academic and life success.
Originality/value
The paper studies improvements in parents’ emotion recognition and self-regulation before disciplining their children.
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Sharon Doubet and Amanda C. Quesenberry
Early in the 20th century, many began to voice growing concern over such issues as infant mortality, childhood diseases, and child labor (Anastasiow & Nucci, 1994). At this time…
Abstract
Early in the 20th century, many began to voice growing concern over such issues as infant mortality, childhood diseases, and child labor (Anastasiow & Nucci, 1994). At this time, physicians, child advocates, and the general public began to speak out about social concerns regarding children, including those living in orphanages and those with mental illness or intellectual disabilities. These concerns came about at a time when psychologists studying young children began to accept that a child's intelligence was impacted by both genetic and environmental factors (Hunt, 1961). Prior to this point, experts believed a child's IQ was set at birth with little that could be done to influence it over time. Although we were beginning to better understand the importance of environmental influences on young children, at this point, most children with disabilities such as intellectual disabilities, cerebral palsy, and epilepsy were institutionalized rather than treated. On the other hand, children who were deaf or blind were more likely to be treated, but were typically sent away to “schools” and were segregated from their families and peers while receiving treatment and education.
This article analyses UK Early Years policy in terms of service expansion and service transformation since the Labour Government's election in 1997. Childcare is now a matter of…
Abstract
This article analyses UK Early Years policy in terms of service expansion and service transformation since the Labour Government's election in 1997. Childcare is now a matter of public policy, driven largely by concerns about child poverty and inequalities in children's life chances. The evidence is considered, first, on service expansion, increased take‐up and increased employment by parents with young children, and, second, on service transformation and child outcomes: to what extent have changes benefited disadvantaged children, families and neighbourhoods? The Effective Provision of Preschool Education (EPPE) research shows that pre‐school can boost disadvantaged children's intellectual development in particular, and the article concludes that programmes such as Sure Start and Neighbourhood Nurseries have been successfully targeted at the most disadvantaged areas, although better‐off families and neighbourhoods may have benefited even more, and that problems of cost and sustainability remain. It is too early to judge whether better integrated services now being developed will be successful in transforming the lives of the most disadvantaged children.
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Jacqueline Barnes, Kristen MacPherson and Rob Senior
The study reported here aimed to evaluate the impact on parenting and the home environment of community volunteer home visiting offered during or soon after pregnancy to…
Abstract
The study reported here aimed to evaluate the impact on parenting and the home environment of community volunteer home visiting offered during or soon after pregnancy to potentially vulnerable mothers. A cluster‐randomised study allocated Home‐Start schemes to intervention or comparison (existing services) conditions. Mothers were screened at routine health checks. Families in intervention and comparison areas were assessed at two and 12 months. The results showed that comparing families receiving support and those in comparison areas, there were few differences. There was a greater reduction in parent‐child relationship difficulties for supported families, but they offered their children fewer healthy foods. There was no evidence of enhanced parenting, organisation of the home environment or more appropriate use of health services. Comparing families receiving support with a second comparison group, living in intervention areas but not receiving support, no differences were found. The article concludes that a more structured approach may be required to make changes in parenting behaviour and the home environment.
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Lauren C. Mims, Cierra Kaler-Jones, Abigail A. Amoako Kayser and David J. Johns
Recent scholarship has focused on the schooling experiences of Black boys in early childhood; however research on the experiences and outcomes of Black girls in early childhood…
Abstract
Recent scholarship has focused on the schooling experiences of Black boys in early childhood; however research on the experiences and outcomes of Black girls in early childhood remains virtually nonexistent. More research is needed to ensure that every Black girl excels in early childhood education. Through three reflections from Black early educators, written iteratively through a process of reflection, discussion, writing, and revision, this chapter highlights aspects of Black girls' schooling that can promote Black girls' rapidly developing social, emotional, regulatory, and moral capacities. Within each reflection, the educator's advance our understanding of culturally relevant pedagogy by showing how educators can “teach to and through” Black girls’ funds of knowledge. Additionally, the reflections highlight the powerful role schools play in the lives of Black girls, underscoring the need to more deeply investigate teacher's perceptions of Black girls in addition to the positive and the negative policies and practices enacted in classrooms. The chapter concludes with critical and timely recommendations for research, practice, and policy.
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