Sex Differences in Early Childhood Education Intervention Impacts on Cognitive Outcomes.

Several influential studies reported sex differences in early care and education (ECE) treatment on young adult IQ and academic outcomes. This paper extends that work by asking whether sex differences in impacts of the Carolina Abecedarian Project emerged during the treatment period or subsequently and whether sex differences were maintained into middle adulthood. The randomized clinical trial (98% Black, 51% female) followed 104 infants 5 to 45 years of age.

Promoting 21st Century Health and Wellness Skills in Elementary School Children: a Group Randomized Trial.

In a group randomized trial of 45 elementary schools, a whole-child health and wellness curriculum introduced as a regular part of the educational programming was compared to education as usual over 2 years with a 2-year follow-up. The curriculum focused on integrating multiple SEL skills-mindfulness, compassion, and physical awareness-with the intent to advantage developmental patterns for these skills, academic engagement, personal well-being, and student behavior. The program design and trial implementation were launched with end-use delivery and long-term sustainability as integral considerations.

Unsettled science on longer-run effects of early education.

More rigorous research is needed on how to design programs.

Predicting adolescent and young adult outcomes from emotional support and cognitive stimulation offered by preschool-age home and early care and education settings.

Children's early environmental experiences are often considered highly influential for later life development. Yet, environmental contexts, such as the home and early care and education (ECE) setting, and multiple aspects of each setting, are not typically examined concurrently. In this study, we examined associations between cognitive stimulation and emotional support in the home and ECE setting during the preschool years (36-54 months) with adolescent (age 15; = 708; 52% female) and adult (age 26; = 584; 54% female) outcomes using data from the Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development, a study conducted at 10 sites across the United States.

Early care and education.

This chapter briefly reviews the history of early care and education (ECE) in the United States, the ECE conceptual frameworks, how ECE is organized, who uses ECE, and associations between ECE experiences and child outcomes. Nonparent care is now experienced by most children in the United States, with home-based care most common for infants and toddlers and center-based care for preschoolers. ECE settings that involve frequent and responsive teacher-child interactions and access to age-appropriate activities appear to promote children's cognitive and social development, although those associations tend to be quite modest.

Do more hours in center-based care cause more externalizing problems? A cross-national replication study.

Whether high quantities of center-based care cause behavior problems is a controversial question. Studies using covariate adjustment for selection factors have detected relations between center care and behavior problems, but studies with stronger internal validity less often find such evidence. We examined whether within-child changes in hours in center-based care predicted changes in externalizing problems in toddlers and preschoolers (N = 10,105; 49% female; data collection 1993-2012) in seven studies, including from Germany, Netherlands, Norway, two from Canada and two from the U.

Examining three hypotheses for pre-kindergarten fade-out.

Pre-kindergarten (Pre-K) programs typically improve early academic skills, but those gains too often disappear after children transition to elementary school. At least three hypotheses explain this "fade-out" of Pre-K effects: Pre-K does not focus on the "trifecta skills" that uniquely support subsequent learning and development; the quality of school-age experiences as "sustaining environments" are more important for Pre-K attenders than nonattenders; and kindergarten (K) teachers provide "redundant instruction" by teaching the same skills taught in preschool programs. The present sample included the second year of assessments on 455 children living in rural counties in the Southeast recruited from Pre-K classrooms and the first year of assessments for 246 K classmates without center-based preschool experience.

Mark I. Appelbaum (1941-2020).

Memorializes Mark I. Appelbaum (1941-2020). Appelbaum was a giant in the field of quantitative psychology and developmental methodology.

Maternal History of Childhood Maltreatment and Children's Cognitive and Social Development.

A growing literature provides evidence of long-term effects of childhood sexual trauma (CST), however the intergenerational consequences of CST are not well understood. In the current study we examine the adjustment of children whose mothers reported a history of CST compared to children whose mothers did not report childhood trauma across multiple domains of functioning. Data for these analyses were obtained from a longitudinal study of low-income, rural families.

The Educare intervention: Outcomes at age 3.

The effectiveness of Educare, a center-based early education program, in improving child outcomes at age 3 was evaluated in a randomized clinical trial. Educare programs serve children from birth to age 5 and are designed to reduce the achievement gap between children from low-income families and their more advantaged peers. This study began following 239 children from low-income families who were randomly assigned as infants (<19 months) to Educare or a business-as-usual control group.

The Relation Between Classroom Age Composition and Children's Language and Behavioral Outcomes: Examining Peer Effects.

Grouping children of different ages in the same preschool classroom (i.e., mixed age) is widespread, but the evidence supporting this practice is mixed.

Health Status of Children Enrolled in a Family Navigator Program to Eliminate Intergenerational Poverty.

In 2014, Family Success Alliance (FSA) was formed as a place-based initiative to build a pipeline of programs to reduce the impact of poverty on outcomes for children living in Orange County, North Carolina. In this study, FSA parents' perception of child health, parent and child adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), and resilience were obtained by parent interview. Receipt of recommended health services were abstracted from primary care medical records of FSA children.

Peer effects on low-income children's learning and development.

Using data from a large study of 78 high-quality Head Start classrooms in 12 sites across the U.S., this study examined whether peers' receptive vocabulary skills and teacher-reported social-emotional (S-E) functioning (i.

Boosting School Readiness: Should Preschool Teachers Target Skills or the Whole Child?

We use experimental data to estimate impacts on school readiness of different kinds of preschool curricula - a largely neglected preschool input and measure of preschool quality. We find that the widely-used "whole-child" curricula found in most Head Start and pre-K classrooms produced higher classroom process quality than did locally-developed curricula, but failed to improve children's school readiness. A curriculum focused on building mathematics skills increased both classroom math activities and children's math achievement relative to the whole-child curricula.

Vicarious Effort-Based Decision-Making in Autism Spectrum Disorders.

This study investigated vicarious effort-based decision-making in 50 adolescents with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) compared to 32 controls using the Effort Expenditure for Rewards Task. Participants made choices to win money for themselves or for another person. When choosing for themselves, the ASD group exhibited relatively similar patterns of effort-based decision-making across reward parameters.

Child and Parenting Outcomes After 1 Year of Educare.

Educare is a birth to age 5 early education program designed to reduce the achievement gap between children from low-income families and their more economically advantaged peers through high-quality center-based programming and strong school-family partnerships. This study randomly assigned 239 children (< 19 months) from low-income families to Educare or a business-as-usual control group. Assessments tracked children 1 year after randomization.

Early child care and adolescent functioning at the end of high school: Results from the NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development.

Relations between early child care and adolescent functioning at the end of high school (EOHS; M age = 18.3 years) were examined in a prospective longitudinal study of 1,214 children. Controlling for extensive measures of family background, early child care was associated with academic standing and behavioral adjustment at the EOHS.

IV. TESTING FOR DOSAGE-OUTCOME ASSOCIATIONS IN EARLY CARE AND EDUCATION.

In this chapter, we turn to the question of whether there is evidence of an association between children’s development and the quantity or dosage of ECE across several large studies. As follow-up to the results summarized in the literature review, it is important to control adequately for selection effects in studying effects of dosage. There is also a need to examine different measures of dosage to see if consistent patterns of findings emerge across different measurement approaches.

III. TESTING FOR QUALITY THRESHOLDS AND FEATURES IN EARLY CARE AND EDUCATION.

In this chapter, we report on the analyses focusing on both quality thresholds and quality features. First, we address questions about quality thresholds, using two analytic approaches. The analyses ask whether there is evidence suggesting thresholds in the association between a specific quality measure and a specific child outcome.

I. QUALITY THRESHOLDS, FEATURES, AND DOSAGE IN EARLY CARE AND EDUCATION: INTRODUCTION AND LITERATURE REVIEW.

This monograph addresses the hypotheses that preschool children benefit most strongly when early care and education (ECE) is at or above a threshold of quality, has specific quality features, and/or is of longer duration. These issues are pivotal in recent policies designed to improve the quality of ECE, especially for children from low-income families. Evidence of quality thresholds in which ECE quality has stronger impacts in settings with moderate to high levels of quality than in settings with low quality would inform policy initiatives in which monetary incentives or consequences are allocated to ECE settings based on their level of quality.