Noteworthy early childhood development resources (v2): Research and data | Sadaf Shallwani - Early Childhood Development Research. The Importance of Early Childhood Initiatives. June 5th was the national Early Learning Day of Action, a day that we emphasize efforts to enhance children’s healthy early learning.
With current research, we gain a greater understanding of the importance of healthy development in the early years. This means that we must create safe environments for them that are conducive to growth and that minimize the potential for issues like violence, abuse, neglect or other trauma. The most critical phases of brain development occur in the child’s first five years. We know that in the first five years of life brain development occurs more rapidly than during any other phase of development.
We also know that children’s early experiences not only have a profound effect on their brain development but also on other parts of their life and health that can impact them even into adulthood. I have referred to the Adverse Child Events (ACE ) research that has been replicated with over 400,000 people. What research tells us. Help for ECE programs. Building Adult Capabilities to Improve Child Outcomes: A Theory of Change. Facing the Screen Dilemma: Young Children, Technology and Early Education | Campaign for a Commercial Free Childhood.
Judging from reactions to my TED talk, here are some common misunderstandings about pre-K research | investinginkids. As mentioned before, TED decided to highlight my TEDx talk from last year as a TED “talk of the day” for May 6. This has since led to 132,000 (and counting) views for this talk. I found the comments on the talk of interest. Many of these comments reflect common misunderstandings of the research evidence for pre-K’s benefits. I responded to some of these comments at the TED website, but let me summarize some of the key points here. 1. We have good evidence that pre-K actually causes better outcomes for former participants, because many research studies have good comparison groups. Several commenters argued that better parents will send their kids with preschool, therefore evidence that kids with preschool do better in later life does not mean that preschool caused these differences. But the research evidence on the benefits of pre-K does not rely on simple comparisons of kids with pre-K vs. kids without pre-K. 2. 3.
But this ignores possible positive spillovers. Like this: Like Loading... Journal of Early Childhood Research. State-Funded Preschool in America in a “State of Emergency” Today NIEER released its most recent edition of The State of Preschool 2012: State Preschool Yearbook at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. This Yearbook marks a decade of data collection, from the 2001-2002 to 2011-2012 school years, tracking the changes in state-funded pre-K policies during some difficult financial times. Joining NIEER at the release were U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan; U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius; President of the American Federation of Teachers Randi Weingarten; Chairman Emeritus of the Vanguard Group Jack Brennan; and Celia Ayala, CEO of Los Angeles Universal Preschool.
This year’s findings were the most sobering since NIEER started collecting data. As NIEER’s Director Steve Barnett noted in his remarks, “the 2012 cutbacks in quality standards were directly related to shortfalls in state funding.” Ensuring children have access to high-quality pre-K isn’t just an issue for the short-term. Like this post? Like this: