This National Early Head Start Services Snapshot summarizes key data on demographics and services for infants, toddlers, and pregnant women served by Early Head Start programs. The data in this Snapshot is a subset of the annual Program Information Report (PIR) submission to the Office of Head Start. Data categories include: (1) Funded Enrollment;…

In humanitarian settings, mental health and psychosocial support services (MHPSS) are often delivered in group-based formats. Group interventions enable providers to reach more individuals when resources and technical expertise are limited. Group-based programs also foster social support, empathy, and collective problem-solving among the…

For children, the earliest years are critical for healthy brain development and lay the groundwork for future educational achievement, economic productivity, and lifelong health. Equitable access to affordable, high-quality, and culturally responsive child care and early learning opportunities can be life changing, shaping the trajectories of the…

The study focuses on how preschool and musical school teachers experience working with El Sistema-inspired activity at two municipal preschools in a multicultural district in a medium-sized Swedish town. What, according to the educators,is the most significant aspect of working with El Sistema-inspired activities? The theoretical point of…

Home visiting is a primary service delivery approach to promote young children's development and support families. Early Intervention professionals are expected to partner with families to create effective learning experiences in the daily context of routine family life. Concerns about early childhood (special) educators' readiness to take on this…

Cross-border education is defined as the movement of people, knowledge, programs, providers, and curriculums across national or regional jurisdictional borders. Each year, millions of students access better education by crossing their national borders from less developed or newly-industrialized countries to Western, industrialised countries. Most…

Purpose: To treat childhood obesity, health education interventions are often aimed at the whole family. However, such interventions seem to have a relatively limited effect on weight loss. The purpose of this paper is to examine how families enrolled in a family-based health education intervention manage the intervention in their daily lives and…

This report describes the work done by the 48 State Deaf-Blind Projects awarded grants by the Department of Education's Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) in late 2013. The report documents the technical assistance and dissemination activities carried out by the Projects and their collaborative activities, describes the needs for…

This issue brief describes the programs and systems of the MDRC Center for Data Insights. Ranging from simple descriptive summaries to advanced machine learning algorithms, the Center's eight current projects aim to use institutions' increasingly rich data to provide new insights that can help refine and target their client's services: (1)…

Since 1998, early childhood education and support services were funded by 50-cents-per-pack tobacco tax through Proposition 10 funding in California. In November, 2016, another proposal was endorsed by voters to add $2.00-per-pack tobacco tax for purposes unrelated to early childhood services, yet the decline of cigarette consumption will…

The DEC Recommended Practices provide guidance to families and professionals about the most effective ways to improve learning outcomes and promote development of young children, birth through age 5, who have, or are at-risk for, developmental delays or disabilities. "Instruction: Effective Strategies to Support Engagement, Learning, and…

The assisted living population is forecast to increase at a rapid rate. Quality of life for residents should be improved by giving greater attention to their cognitive, emotional, and social needs. A university lifespan development team provided a grandparent education course at a large assisted living facility with the assistance of 20 resident…

Objective: This study examined the efficacy of the Parent and Child Enhancement (PACE) program on child learning, child behavior problems, and parental stress, using randomized controlled trial design, in social services centers. Methods: Eligibility criteria were (1) children aged 2 years at program commencement, (2) low-income, new immigrant, or…

Home visitation has the potential to improve parent, child, and maternal outcomes and has become a widely implemented prevention program across the United States. The purpose of this research was to use a randomized controlled trial to assess the short-term effectiveness of the Arizona Healthy Families program across a range of outcomes. Two…

Globally, governments as well as international and donor organizations are increasingly emphasizing the need for investment in effective early childhood programmes that can provide an equitable start for all children. Research is scant, however, on the effectiveness of different interventions supporting early language as well as broader school…