eNotes
February 24, 2017In this Issue:
- La Familia: Latino Families Strong and Stable, Despite Limited Resources Source: National Research Center on Hispanic Children and Families - February 23, 2017
- The Best Teachers for Our Littlest Learners? Lessons from Head Start's Last Decade Source: Bellwether Education Partners - February 8, 2017
- Building our Future: Supporting Community-Based Early Childhood Initiatives Source: Child Trends - February 23, 2017
- Updated! Early Childhood Data Collaborative Website Source: Early Childhood Data Collaborative - February 23, 2017
- Journal of Early Intervention Abstracts Available Online Source: DEC's Journal of Early Intervention - OnlineFirst - February 13, 2017
1. La Familia: Latino Families Strong and Stable, Despite Limited Resources
A new 3-brief series, La Familia: Latino Families Strong and Stable, Despite Limited Resources (February 2017), provides a portrait of Latino family life to look at how parents and in particular, boys, are faring. The series analyzes extensive data from 2010 on and finds that Latino families, especially Latino immigrant families, have many of the characteristics linked to child and adult well-being, despite many having low levels of income and education. Additionally, it finds that though many preschool-aged Latino boys lag behind their white peers on academic measures, they have many of the cognitive and social-emotional skills that are important for school success. The briefs are meant to help practitioners, program providers, and policy makers better understand the populations and families they serve.
2. The Best Teachers for Our Littlest Learners? Lessons from Head Start's Last Decade
A new report, The Best Teachers for Our Littlest Learners? Lessons from Head Start's Last Decade (February 2017), looks at the evolution of Head Start workforce policies over 50 years. It finds that Head Start teachers' credentials have improved, however challenges related to recruiting, retaining, and compensating a high-quality workforce remain. Additionally, credentials, compensation, and retention vary across Head Start programs, types of Head Start providers, and states. The report also discusses the interconnection between Head Start and the larger early childhood workforce and how these systems can complement or impede each other. It includes recommendations for Federal policymakers and local grantees.
3. Building our Future: Supporting Community-Based Early Childhood Initiatives
In 2016, Child Trends, together with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the George Kaiser Family Foundation, brought together practitioners, policymakers, business leaders, researchers, and philanthropists from across the country to examine what makes for a successful community-based early childhood initiative aimed at improving the well-being of children in the U.S., especially the many children who are poor. The meeting focused on the early childhood initiatives of three featured communities: Tulsa, Oklahoma; Durham, North Carolina; and the state of Oregon. A new report, Building our Future: Supporting Community-Based Early Childhood Initiatives (February 2017), provides highlights of early childhood initiatives in these three communities and summarizes cross-cutting themes gleaned from these initiatives as well as from diverse stakeholders and experts.
4. Updated! Early Childhood Data Collaborative Website
The Early Childhood Data Collaborative (ECDC) supports state policymakers’ development and use of coordinated state early care and education (ECE) data systems and promotes data-driven decision-making to improve: program quality, ECE workforce quality, access to high-quality programs, and child outcomes. ECDC recently launched its newly updated website, which includes an interactive map with profiles of state data systems.
5. Journal of Early Intervention Abstracts Available Online
Abstracts of the following articles are now available online at http://jei.sagepub.com/content/early/recent
The Importance of Authentic Assessments in Eligibility Determination for Infants and Toddlers
Stephanie Lynn de Sam Lazaro
Comparative Language Development in Bilingual and Monolingual Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Systematic Review
Emily M. Lund, Theresa L. Kohlmeier, Lillian K. Duran
Father Involvement in Early Intervention: Exploring the Gap Between Service Providers' Perceptions and Practices
Brent A. McBride, Sarah J. Curtiss, Kelly Uchima, Daniel J. Laxman, Rosa M. Santos, Jenna Weglarz-Ward, Wm. Justin Dyer, Laurie M. Jeans, Justin Kern
The Journal of Early Intervention (JEI) is an official publication of the Division for Early Childhood (DEC) of the Council for Exceptional Children and SAGE Publications. It offers articles related to research and practice in early intervention for infants and young children with special needs and their families. Freely available Podcasts of interviews with JEI authors can be accessed online.