Below are resources for early childhood professionals and those serving the early childhood community.
We Need More Evidence in Order to Create Effective Pre-K Programs. Despite more than 50 years of preliminary work on pre-kindergarten (pre-K) as an early intervention for young children from poor backgrounds, the field of early childhood education has a relatively small database to use as a guide to effective practice. Lack of evidence about which skills and dispositions are most important to effect in pre-K and what instructional practices would affect them has led us to the current situation of poorly defined, enormously varied programs, all called pre-K, as well as a reliance on a set of quality measures with no empirical validity. (Source: Brookings Institution).
State Early Childhood Policy: The Center on Enhancing Early Learning Outcomes (CEELO) published its annual report covering its technical assistance activities with state administrators in “Building the capacity of state early childhood administrators: CEELO FY2015.”
Family Engagement: The Center on Enhancing Early Learning Outcomes (CEELO) published “State Approaches to Family Engagement in Pre-K Programs,” drawing on work with a state developing its Preschool Development Grant (PDG) and another working to expand its pre-k program.
Young Dual Language Learners: Linda Espinosa and Miriam Calderon studied the extent to which 23 states’ Early Learning and Development Standards (ELDS) address the learning needs of young dual language learners for the BUILD Initiative in “State Early Learning and Development Standards/Guidelines, Policies & Related Practices: How responsive are they to the needs of young dual language learners?“
Head Start: The Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP) updated its factsheets with 2014 Office of Head Start data on participation by children, pregnant women, families, and staff in Head Start Preschool, Early Head Start, and Migrant and Seasonal programs. State-by-state data can be viewed in CLASP’s DataFinder.
Early Learning Challenge: BUILD released the prologue to its e-book “Rising to the Challenge: Building Effective Systems for Young Children and Families,” called “Coming of Age: Review of Federal Childhood Policy 2000-2015,” written by Joan Lombardi, Jessica Harding, Maia Connors and Allison Friedman-Krauss.
