Below are resources for early childhood professionals and those serving the early childhood community.
Informing Investments in Preschool Quality: The RAND Corporation analyzed and compiled evaluation findings from 15 full-scale preschool programs in an effort to see “whether publicly funded, high-quality preschool programs-implemented under real-world conditions-benefit participating children and whether the associated economic costs and benefits generate favorable economic concerns.” The study, “Informing Investments in Preschool Quality and Access in Cincinnati: Evidence of Impacts and Economic Returns from National, State, and Local Preschool Programs,” reports on shared features of programs with sustained effects including the quality of teacher-child interactions and quality of instructional support, among others. EducationWeek highlights the study here.
CCSSO Releases Strategies for High-Quality Early Education: State chiefs are leading efforts to increase investments, expand access, and improve early childhood programs and workforce quality. Building on these efforts, the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) today released Equity Starts Early: How Chiefs Will Build High-Quality Early Education. This report outlines five steps that, coupled with high-quality K-12 education, will contribute to strengthening student outcomes through college and careers.
Pre-K Outcomes Are Better in NC than TN: FPG director Sam Odom and Duke University’s Ken Dodge present evidence showing much different stories for pre-K in North Carolina and Tennessee.
Self-study Guide for Implementing Early Literacy Interventions: This guide was developed to help district- and school-based practitioners conduct self-studies for planning and implementing early literacy interventions. It is intended to promote reflection about current strengths and challenges in planning for implementation of early literacy interventions, spark conversations among staff, and identify areas for improvement. (Source: Southeast Regional Educational Laboratory at Florida State University).
ACF published a review of last year with its publication of “2015 Early Childhood Accomplishment” which includes the new, cross-sector Early Childhood Training and Technical Assistance (T/TA) system and Head Start’s 50th anniversary.
The National Conference of State Legislatures continues to update weekly its Early Education and Child Care Bill Tracking Database in which legislation can be searched by state, topic, status, primary sponsor, bill number or keyword.
The Office of Planning, Research & Evaluation (OPRE) released “Developmental Foundations of School Readiness for Infants and Toddlers: A Research to Practice Report.“
