High-quality early care and education for low-income families: Toddlers' cognitive and emotional functioning during the COVID-19 pandemic.

High-quality early care and education (ECE) programs are associated with positive outcomes, especially for children from low-income families. During the initial COVID-19 pandemic lockdown many of these families faced an abrupt halt to ECE. Here, we examined how toddlers from economically disadvantaged backgrounds enrolled in high-quality ECE programs in the United States during the 2020 pandemic (n = 48) fared on cognitive and socioemotional outcomes compared to a 2019 pre-pandemic cohort (n = 94) and a pandemic 2021 cohort (n = 132).

Predictors of Young Students' School Participation During the Early Days of COVID-19 Remote Learning.

When the COVID-19 pandemic forced school closures in the U.S. in March 2020, children's learning moved home and online, making school participation a challenge for many families, particularly those with low incomes.

Exploring the Features of the Self-Regulatory Environment in Kindergarten Classrooms.

Self-regulatory skills are increasingly recognized as critical early education goals, but few efforts have been made to identify all the features of the classroom that actually promote such skills. This study experiments with a new observational measure capturing three dimensions of the classroom environment hypothesized to influence self-regulation: classroom management, emotionally supportive interactions, and direct promotion of self-regulatory skills. These classroom dimensions were tested as predictors of change over the kindergarten year in both self-regulatory and academic skills in a sample of racially/ethnically-diverse low-income children in Tulsa, OK.

Resilience: supporting children's self-regulation in infant and toddler classrooms.

Introduction: Resilience is a process that develops as a complex transaction as children experience and shape their social-ecological contexts. The dynamic development of self-regulation is an aspect of resilience that has received increased attention as a key mechanism predicting a variety of important short- and long-term outcomes. The current study examined how the self-regulation skills of infants and toddlers in a classroom could potentially shape classroom interactions and quality which, in turn, could potentially shape the development of self-regulation skills of the individual infants and toddlers enrolled in the classroom across an early childhood program year.

When does 1 + 1 not equal 2? The relative advantage of public school-based pre-k versus head start for low-income children's kindergarten cognitive and self-regulatory skills.

Decades of research suggest that both Head Start and public pre-kindergarten (pre-k) programs boost low-income preschoolers' kindergarten skills. What is not yet well understood is whether there are relative advantages of transitioning from Head Start after 1 year into a school-based public pre-k program for the year immediately before kindergarten for children's developing cognitive and self-regulation skills. This is an important question, because in many communities Head Start and school-based pre-k programs provide competing early education options for low-income 4-year-olds, leaving policymakers, educators, and parents wondering which pathway best promotes the mix of skills predictive of success in elementary school.

Both sides of the screen: Predictors of parents' and teachers' depression and food insecurity during COVID-19-related distance learning.

The COVID-19 pandemic has placed unprecedented strains on both parents and teachers, both of whose mental and financial hardships have serious implications for young children's wellbeing. We drew on an existing cohort study of families with low incomes in Tulsa, OK when children were in their Spring of first grade in 2020. We surveyed parents and teachers - children's caregivers on both sides of the screen during distance learning - before and after the COVID-19 pandemic hit and schools were closed.

Chaos during the COVID-19 outbreak: Predictors of household chaos among low-income families during a pandemic.

Objective: The objective of this study was to explore whether household chaos measured during the COVID-19 pandemic is predicted by prepandemic parental and household characteristics.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically altered children's home environments and routines due to stay-at-home orders, school closures, and economic shocks. These disruptions have been especially challenging for low-income families who have limited resources and have been disproportionately affected by the pandemic.

Hispanic English language learner families and food insecurity during COVID-19: Risk factors and systems of food support.

Introduction: Although many low-income families have experienced food insecurity during the COVID-19 pandemic, rates have been particularly high among low-income Hispanic and immigrant households.

Methods: The present study draws on data from an ongoing longitudinal study of low-income families and children in Tulsa, Oklahoma to examine food insecurity among English Language Learners (ELLs), all of whom were Hispanic and most of whom came from immigrant families.

Results: Findings indicate that, although low-income ELL families were somewhat more likely to experience food insecurity than other low-income families before the pandemic, once COVID-19 erupted, they had 3 times the odds of experiencing food insecurity, even after controlling for prior risk factors and COVID-related income loss.

Reframing High-Quality Public Preschool as a Vehicle for Narrowing Child Health Disparities Based on Family Income.

Past research shows that high-quality public preschool may disproportionately support low-income children's school readiness because low-income children tend to arrive at school with fewer of the academic skills needed for success. This suggests a compensatory process in human development in which the children who benefit most from a promotive factor are those who stand to gain the most. We propose that high-quality public preschool may similarly confer its greatest health rewards to low-income children, who are generally in poorer health than their peers.

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.

Obesity prevention and obesogenic behavior interventions in child care: A systematic review.

Objective: Review peer-reviewed interventions designed to reduce obesity and improve obesogenic behaviors, including physical activity, diet, and screen time, at child care centers. Interventions components and outcomes, study design, duration, use of behavioral theory, and level of social ecological influence are detailed.

Methods: Article searches were conducted from March 2014, October 2014, March 2015, January 2016 across three databases.

Playing with Others: Head Start Children's Peer Play and Relations with Kindergarten School Competence.

Time-sampled observations of Head Start preschoolers' ( = 264; 51.5% boys; 76% Mexican American; = 53.11 and = 6.