In this chapter, we dismantle the current educational rhetoric that pervasively characterizes Black children as being "at-risk," "deficient," or "underachievers." Instead, we replace this deficit-oriented rhetoric with one that encapsulates the cultural and educational excellence that inspires Black children to reach…

Background: Viral infections of the central nervous system may have detrimental effects for the developing brain, but the effects of less virulent common infections are unclear. We aim to investigate the impact of common viral infections of early childhood on neuropsychological performance of children at age four. Methods: We used cross-sectional…

This paper examines outcomes associated with participation in short-term, international internship experiences. Results suggest short-term international internship experiences contribute to rich personal and professional development outcomes. Findings highlight participant challenges associated with initial internship experiences, professional…

High-quality early elementary years offer a critical opportunity for child development and academic learning for all children, regardless of their race, family-income level, or culture and home language. All students deserve access to high-quality teachers and leaders trained in how to effectively support their learning. They deserve to attend…

Compared to unpaid leave, paid family leave may better help working parents balance the competing needs of job and family early in a child's life, among other advantages. Yet the United States remains one of only two countries in the world without a statutory national paid maternity leave policy, and one of the only high-income countries that…

The historiography of child guidance has focused primarily on the United States, where it first developed before travelling across the English-speaking world. The rapid expansion of child guidance in the interwar years was enabled by private philanthropy, which provided fellowships to foreign professionals to study in the United States. This…

In a previous study, we reported the first measurements of pre-movement and sensorimotor cortex activity in preschool age children (ages 3-5 years) using a customized pediatric magnetoencephalographic system. Movement-related activity in the sensorimotor cortex differed from that typically observed in adults, suggesting that maturation of cortical…

Gross motor and physical activity opportunities in early childhood are important for promoting health and development. We conducted two studies with the following aims: (1) to describe the quality of gross motor/physical activity early learning environments in Washington (WA) state, USA and (2) to study the relationship between the quality of…

Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are often delayed in acquiring social initiation skills utilized during common early childhood activities. A multiple probe design was utilized to assess the efficacy of a shared book reading intervention to increase the independent commenting of three young children with ASD. The intervention resulted…

This study provides a broad, macro-analysis of how the home literacy environment (HLE) manifests among Mayan families with preschool-aged children in Yucatan, Mexico. Despite a substantial body of work showing the significant contribution of the HLE to children's reading achievement in the U.S., little work examines the HLE and children's learning…

In 2014, the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) granted funds to establish Early Head Start-Child Care Partnerships (EHS-CCPs) to expand families' access to high-quality child care. Through these partnerships, Early Head Start grantees have worked with center-based and family child care providers to implement Head Start Program…

This brief, prepared as part of Morrison Institute for Public Policy's Spotlight on Arizona's Kids project, outlines evidence-based services that help reduce or prevent child abuse and neglect, including home visiting, parent education, domestic violence services, and substance abuse treatment.

As internalizing and externalizing problems often co-occur, this dissertation utilized a longitudinal dataset of 784 at-risk children (predominantly from low-income families and academically at-risk; 52.6% male) followed yearly from grade 1 to grade 12 to: (a) explore the heterogeneity in the co-development patterns of internalizing and…

Many young children in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) face heightened risk for experiencing environmental adversity, which is linked with poorer develop- mental outcomes. Children's stress physiology can shed light on why children are differentially susceptible to adversity. However, no known studies have examined whether links between…

Georgia's Pre-K Longitudinal Study followed a statewide sample of 1,169 children who attended Georgia's Pre-K Program in 2013-14 through their 4th grade year in 2018-19. The study was conducted by researchers at the Frank Porter Graham (FPG) Child Development Institute at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The following summary…