"Research Findings:" Sustained attention is a fundamental cognitive function for young children's development. We investigated the effects of school-based audiovisual game training with parental involvement on sustained attention (SA) in 5-6-year-old Chinese children. Totally 75 children and their parents participated and were assigned…

"Research Findings": Early childhood workers (ECW's) play a pivotal role in shaping children's emotional competence. This study examined the efficacy of Tuning in to Kids for Kindergarten Teachers (TIK-KT) used with CLASS observations to improve ECW's emotion socialization, kindergarten emotional climate and children's functioning. Five…

This sequential mixed methods study evaluated the impact of the Chicago Parent Program (CPP) in 12 Baltimore Title I PreK programs on parent engagement and student outcomes from kindergarten through 2nd grade. Phase 1 (quasi-experiment; N = 11,996) compared PreK students whose parents enrolled in CPP with those whose parents did not enroll in CPP…

Research Findings: Family child care providers widely participate in the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP), yet their participation experiences have not been studied. To fill this gap, we used a mixed methods approach that combined survey data collected from a random sample of 224 CACFP-participating licensed family child care providers…

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…

Research Findings: In Study 1, we observed 32 Chinese kindergarteners playing a number board game with their caregivers in dyads. Number board game playing provided important opportunities for kindergarteners and their caregivers to talk about an array of number concepts, but their numeracy-related exchanges rarely went beyond counting. In Study…

Research Findings: Research has shown that self-regulation can support child development in the areas of children's attentional flexibility, working memory, and inhibitory control for excluding impulsive responses. How this is actually related in everyday pedagogical early childhood education (ECE) activities has rarely been studied in detail. In…

Research Findings: This study investigated the relationship of the Home Instruction for Parents of Preschool Youngsters (HIPPY) program to mothers' involvement in education at home and school, student school readiness in kindergarten, and student academic outcomes at 3rd grade. HIPPY serves a mostly minority, low-income family population and…

Research Findings: Parental engagement with children has been linked to a number of adaptive characteristics in preschool children, and relationships between families and professionals are an important contributor to school readiness. Furthermore, social-emotional competence is a key component of young children's school readiness. This study…

Research Findings: Early Head Start home-based programs provide services through weekly home visits to families with children up to age 3, but families vary in how long they remain enrolled. In this study of 564 families in home-based Early Head Start programs, "dropping out" was predicted by specific variations in home visits and certain family…

Research Findings: Collaborative work and supportive relationships are highly valued by teachers and school administrators. Collaboration, however, necessitates constructive conflict resolution (P. M. Senge, 1990); yet conflict is often experienced as interpersonally threatening and undermining supportive working conditions. This contradiction is…

Conjoint behavioral consultation (CBC) is an ecological model of service delivery that brings together parents and educators to collaboratively address shared concerns for a child. This study provides exploratory data investigating the effects of CBC on home and school concerns for 48 children aged 6 and younger. Single-subject methods were used…

Evaluated the design and effectiveness of the New England Head Start Teaching Center (NEHSTC), created to test the efficacy of participatory, hands-on training for enhancing Head Start service delivery. Found that Head Start staff who participated in NEHSTC training demonstrated gains in knowledge, skills, and attitudes compared to similar…

Compared a classroom-based early intervention program for disabled children and the same program with a parent training-support component. Found a small, immediate effect on child and family functioning and a long-term positive effect on child educational placement and teacher perceptions of child functioning, in favor of the parent involvement…

Compared a center-based early intervention program for disabled children and the same program with a parent training-support component. Found no immediate or long-term benefits in child or family functioning for parent component participants in the first four years of follow-up. Concludes however, that parents should still be involved in…