Quality Rating and Improvement Systems: Considerations for Children from Immigrant Families

As the percentage of immigrants in the U.S. has steadily increased over the last forty years, it is not surprising to find that many children in the U.S. are now born to at least one foreign-born parent or are immigrants themselves. As the U.S. becomes more minority majority, cultural and linguistic diversity will become a key issue when developing goals, policies, and practices to meet the needs of children and families.However, questions remain about whether Quality Rating and Improvement Systems and other quality initiatives are considering the needs of immigrant families and children. This issue of Making the Link discusses some of these concerns and recommendations that can improve systems for immigrant children

Nebraska Early Childhood Workforce Survey: A Focus on Providers and Teachers

The Nebraska Early Childhood Workforce Survey was undertaken by the Buffett Early Childhood Institute at the University of Nebraska to better understand the current status, working conditions, and attitudes of caregivers and teachers working with children from birth through Grade 3. Representing the largest and most comprehensive survey ever completed of the state’s early childhood workforce, it provides important insight into the everyday challenges of the professionals who care for and educate our youngest citizens. Research has long made clear the important role adults play in young children’s lives. Children who form strong relationships with adults feel safe to explore their environments, which is essential to learning and development. The day-to-day interactions that occur between adults and young children advance children’s language, critical thinking, social-emotional development, and children’s success in school and life. Since nearly 80 percent of Nebraska children are enrolled in some type of early care and education during their early years, it is necessary to have a skilled, informed, and diverse workforce, across settings, to support children’s development

Black Child National Agenda: America Must Deliver on its Promise

Black children's lives matter. Unfortunately, Black children in the United States of America face a dual reality: growing up in the "land of opportunity" while also experiencing the reality of racism and inequities that impact their daily lives. The Equity Research ActionCoalition, POINTS of ACCESS, LLC, and the National Black Child Development Institute have collaborated in creating the Black Child National Agenda because of the urgent need to challenge the negative and stereotypical narrative of Black children, families, and communities and to challenge policies and systems that undermine basic human rights and community wellness

Workforce well-being: Personal and workplace contributions to early educators\u27 depression across settings

Building on research demonstrating the importance of teachers\u27 well-being, this study examined personal and contextual factors related to early childhood educators\u27 (n =1640) depressive symptoms across licensed child care homes, centers, and schools. Aspects of teachers\u27 beliefs, economic status, and work-related stress were explored, and components of each emerged as significant in an OLS regression. After controlling for demographics and setting, teachers with more adult-centered beliefs, lower wages, multiple jobs, no health insurance, more workplace demands, and fewer work-related resources, had more depressive symptoms. Adult-centered beliefs were more closely associated with depression for teachers working in home-based settings compared to center-based settings. These findings provide preliminary evidence about what relates to depression in the early childhood workforce, which has implications for supporting well-being across settings

Risk Factors for Depression Among Early Childhood Teachers

This study examined possible risk factors associated with teachers’ depression in a variety of early childhood settings. Teachers with lower pay, no health insurance, multiple jobs, greater job stress, and more adult-centered beliefs reported more symptoms of depression. To reduce these symptoms, efforts should be made to support teachers’ mental health at multiple levels, including individual, environmental, and policy. Researchers used data collected in 2015-16 from a large survey of early childhood educators in Nebraska. Four early childhood settings were sampled: licensed family child care homes (home-based), licensed child care centers (center-based), state-funded PreK programs, and elementary schools serving children in Kindergarten through Grade 3 (K-3). Across settings, a total of 1,640 teachers responded to the survey: 36% in K-3, 25% home-based, 23% center-based, and 17% PreK. The survey included various measures, including economic circumstances (health insurance status, pay, public assistance use, and working multiple jobs), work-related stress, beliefs about children’s development (the extent to which teachers held more adult-centered vs. child-centered beliefs), and symptoms of depression

Equity is quality, quality is equity. Operationalizing equity in quality rating and improvement systems

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Improving the Nutrition and Screen Time Environment through Self-assessment in Family Childcare Homes in Nebraska

Objective: To determine if family childcare homes (FCCH) in Nebraska meet best practices for nutrition and screen time, and if focusing on nutrition and screen time policies and practices improves the FCCH environment. Design: A pre–post evaluation was conducted using the Go Nutrition and Physical Activity Self-Assessment for Childcare (Go NAP SACC). Setting: FCCH in Nebraska, USA. Subjects: FCCH enrolled in the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP; n 208) participated in a pre–post evaluation using Go NAP SACC. Results: At baseline, all FCCH met the minimum childcare standards for fifty-four of fifty-six practices in nutrition and screen time. After the intervention, FCCH demonstrated significant improvement in fourteen of the forty-four Child Nutrition items and eleven of the twelve Screen Time items. However, FCCH providers did not meet best practices at post-intervention. Lowest scores were found in serving meals family-style, promoting visible support for healthy eating, planned nutrition education and written policy on child nutrition. For screen time, lowest scores were reported on the availability of television, offering families education on screen time and having a written policy on screen time. Conclusions: FCCH in Nebraska were able to strengthen their policies and practices after utilizing Go NAP SACC. Continued professional development and participation in targeted interventions may assist programmes in sustaining improved practices and policies. Considering the varying standards and policies surrounding FCCH, future studies comparing the current findings with childcare centres and non-CACFP programmes are warranted

Improving the Nutrition and Screen Time Environment Through Self-Assessment in Family Childcare Homes in Nebraska

Objective: To determine if family childcare homes (FCCH) in Nebraska meet best practices for nutrition and screen time, and if focusing on nutrition and screen time policies and practices improves the FCCH environment. Design: A pre–post evaluation was conducted using the Go Nutrition and Physical Activity Self-Assessment for Childcare (Go NAP SACC). Setting: FCCH in Nebraska, USA. Subjects: FCCH enrolled in the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP; n 208) participated in a pre–post evaluation using Go NAP SACC. Results: At baseline, all FCCH met the minimum childcare standards for fifty-four of fifty-six practices in nutrition and screen time. After the intervention, FCCH demonstrated significant improvement in fourteen of the forty-four Child Nutrition items and eleven of the twelve Screen Time items. However, FCCH providers did not meet best practices at post-intervention. Lowest scores were found in serving meals family-style, promoting visible support for healthy eating, planned nutrition education and written policy on child nutrition. For screen time, lowest scores were reported on the availability of television, offering families education on screen time and having a written policy on screen time. Conclusions: FCCH in Nebraska were able to strengthen their policies and practices after utilizing Go NAP SACC. Continued professional development and participation in targeted interventions may assist programmes in sustaining improved practices and policies. Considering the varying standards and policies surrounding FCCH, future studies comparing the current findings with childcare centres and non-CACFP programmes are warranted

Parent self-efficacy: Relationship with parent involvement and preschoolers' school readiness

This study investigated the relationship between parents' self-efficacy, parent involvement, and preschooler's school readiness. A multidimensional framework consisting of domain-specific and domain-general self-efficacy and involvement and domains of school readiness was used. Due to the lack of parent self-efficacy and parent involvement measures focused on preschoolers' school readiness, new measures for these constructs were developed and validated. A structural equation model (SEM) was utilized to investigate the following questions: (1) whether self-efficacy impacted parents' involvement and (2) whether parents' involvement served as a mediator between self-efficacy and children's approaches to learning and school readiness. The SEM model revealed a relationship between self-efficacy and parents' involvement. In addition, parent's involvement in their preschooler's socioemotional development served as a mediator between parents' self-efficacy and children's school readiness.Though this study utilized a Head Start, predominantly African American, sample, it provided support for the utilization of a multidimensional framework to establish the relationship between parents' self-efficacy, involvement, and children's school readiness. Additional research, using a multi-method multi-informant approach, is warranted to further establish the findings in this paper.</p