Research Findings: This within-group exploratory sequential mixed-methods investigation sought to identify how ethnically diverse, urban-residing, low-income Black families conceptualize positive parenting. During the item development phase 119 primary caregivers from Head Start programs participated in focus groups and interviews. These…

Research Findings: Most infant teachers have been prepared to be early childhood educators with minimal theoretical or practical exposure to infancy. This study highlights the outcomes of a professional development program (PDP) designed to support a group of infant teachers who lacked specific infancy preparation to re-envision their roles. Data…

Research Findings: Using a structured qualitative case study method, this study examined one urban school readiness initiative's efforts to identify and engage family, friend, and neighbor (FFN) care providers to promote school readiness in underserved and immigrant communities. Interviews and focus groups were conducted with 23 FFN providers, 14…

This study investigates social and ethnic differences in the use of early childhood education and care (ECEC) centers with different learning environments in an ECEC system with universal state-subsidized provision and low fees. Based on the German National Educational Panel Study-Kindergarten Cohort from 2011, we matched data on 587 groups in 253…

Research Findings: Using longitudinal survey data from the Welfare, Children, and Families Study: A Three-City Study ("n" = 135), this study examines how congruence in maternal and child care provider sensitivities contributes to young children's social, emotional, and academic outcomes among low-income minority families. Congruence…

Research Findings: The roles of child lexical diversity and maternal sensitivity in the development of young children's inhibitory control were examined in 100 low-income Hispanic Spanish-speaking children. Child communication utterances at age 2½ years were transcribed from 10-min mother-child interactions to quantify lexical diversity. Maternal…

Research Findings: DVD classroom newsletters are one proposed technology tool to promote classroom-to-home connections. The present study explored the experiences of prekindergarten children from predominantly Spanish-speaking homes with bilingual (English and Spanish) DVD classroom newsletters. On average, parents reported that children watched…

Research Findings: Few studies have described parents' child care decision-making process, yet understanding how parents make child care choices is fundamental to developing effective services to promote the selection of high-quality care. This study used latent profile analysis to distinguish subgroups of low-income parents identified as having…

Research Findings: This study examined associations of preschool type (i.e., urban and suburban Head Start and university-affiliated center) and teacher-child variables with positive and negative child outcomes among 145 preschoolers (74 boys). Differences emerged across preschools, with urban Head Start children scoring lowest on the emotional…

Research Findings: The home literacy environment and other early learning settings such as preschool play a role in children's language and literacy outcomes, yet research suggests that Latino, Spanish-speaking families are less likely than other families to participate in family literacy activities. This study explored the relations among…

Research Findings: Recent work has demonstrated that the changes young children experience in their child care settings before age 5 may be related to subsequent development, especially social development. Several of these studies have included samples of middle-class children, with almost no emphasis on understanding these processes for…

Research Findings: This study examined processes of change associated with the positive preschool and kindergarten outcomes of children who received the Head Start REDI (REsearch-based, Developmentally Informed) intervention compared to usual practice Head Start. Using data from a large-scale randomized controlled trial ("N" = 356…

Research Findings: Previous research has documented conflicting results on the relationship between program quality and the percentage of children receiving subsidized child care (subsidy density) in early childhood centers. This research examined the relationship between subsidy density and the quality of infant and preschool classrooms in child…

The present study is a longitudinal examination of family-school communication in preschool and kindergarten. Preschool and kindergarten teachers and family workers of 75 children from families with low SES logged the frequency and characteristics of family-school communication, resulting in over 22,000 contacts. Data were collected during a…

We describe the process of relationship-based intervention and associated changes in children and teachers' relationships and behaviors within center-based child care and examine the circumstances under which changes were most likely to occur. The relationship-based intervention had three components: research partners in each participating…