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

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

Assessment of Social Competence in High-Risk Preschoolers: Evaluation of the Adaptive Social Behavior Inventory (ASBI) across Home and School Settings

This study evaluates the Adaptive Social Behavior Inventory (ASBI) for assessing pre-school children's social competence across home and school settings. Data were collected on a multi-ethnic sample of 191 3- to 5-year-old children attending Head Start centers. Parents, teachers, and teacher aides rated children similarly on the three ASBI subscales: Express, Comply, and Disrupt. Although two of the three scales, Express and Disrupt, produced statistically significant mean differences, these differences were relatively small given the range of possible scores and were not consistently related to context, with parents and aides differing from teachers on the Disrupt scale. Correlations across the home-school context were moderate and statistically significant. In addition, canonical correlation analysis examining the relationship between ASBI parent and teacher reports revealed significant matches between hypothesized like factors, suggesting congruence between parent and teacher ratings across home and school contexts. The use of measures of social competence such as the ASBI that provide a common language by which parents and teachers may jointly review children's social competence and thereby encourage parent involvement and shared decision making is discussed, along with implications for developing similar home-school congruence in other important domains of development

Examining How Rural Ecological Contexts Influence Children\u27s Early Learning Opportunities

According to Bronfenbrenner’s bioecological theory (Bronfenbrenner & Evans, 2000), children’s early development and learning are influenced by multiple systems, including the microsystem (e.g., family poverty level), mesosystem (e.g., home-school partnership), exosystem (e.g., community type, early education policies), and macrosystem (e.g., rural culture). Given the lack of early education studies focused on rural communities, we sought to explore how these ecological systems are linked to children’s early learning experiences, with a particular focus on educators’ perceptions of how these ecosystems influence children’s learning environments and opportunities. Based on interviews and focus groups with school leaders, educators, and parents in 10 rural school districts, we found that children in one rural state experienced diversity in ecological systems that may impact their opportunities for learning. In particular, there was a range in the level of familial poverty, early education access, family-school engagement, available community resources, and cultural diversity in these rural communities. Implications for policies and practices to support children’s early learning in rural communities in light of their unique challenges and assets are discussed

Preschool to Kindergarten Transition Patterns for African American Boys

This study focused on the transition patterns of African American boys from preschool to kindergartenusing the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study - Birth Cohort (ECLS-B) dataset. Analyses were conductedto examine whether socioeconomic status, parenting (i.e., emotional support, intrusiveness), and atten-dance in a center-based program predicted likelihood of being in a particular transition pattern. Fourpatterns emerged from the data: (1) Increasing Academically, (2) Early Achiever: Declining Academically & Socially, (3) Low Achiever: Declining Academically, and (4) Consistent Early Achiever. There was het-erogeneity in the school transition patterns of African American boys, with many showing stability frompreschool to kindergarten. Family income and parenting practices and interactions were associated withan increased probability of being in the group that showed a significant increase in academics, suggest-ing the importance of parents\u27 provision of enriching opportunities and experiences for African American boys as they transition from preschool to kindergarten

Lead teacher, assistant teacher, and peer racial/ethnic match and child outcomes for Black children enrolled in enhanced high-quality early care and education programs

Teacher-child racial match has been shown to benefit young Black children, but less is known about the degree to which the match is with the lead teacher or the assistant, and if the preschool racial context moderates this association. This study utilized existing data collected during the 2014–15 through 2018–19 school years in 20 high-quality preschools that enrolled children from households/families with low-income. Analyses of data from 2553 preschool-age Black children enrolled in 418 classrooms revealed that most Black children (82%) were enrolled in preschools with a majority (\u3e=50%) of Black peers, and children in Black Majority preschools were more likely to experience teacher-child racial match with lead and assistant teachers. Racial match with lead and/or assistant teachers were associated with teacher demographic and beliefs differences but not differences in classroom instructional support or child outcomes. Black Majority preschool enrollment was also associated with more problem-behaviors but not other outcomes. However, within Black Majority schools, behavior concerns were reduced when the assistant teacher was a racial match and child initiative was higher when both the teachers were a match. In sum, the effect of teacher-child racial match for Black children should be considered jointly with co-occurring ecological contexts that typify the proximal effects of systemic racism like the preschool racial composition

COVID-19 and Children's Well-Being: A Rapid Research Agenda.

PurposeUnderstanding the full impact of COVID-19 on U.S. children, families, and communities is critical to (a) document the scope of the problem, (b) identify solutions to mitigate harm, and (c) build more resilient response systems. We sought to develop a research agenda to understand the short- and long-term mechanisms and impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on children's healthy development, with the goal of devising and ultimately testing interventions to respond to urgent needs and prepare for future pandemics.DescriptionThe Life Course Intervention Research Network facilitated a series of virtual meetings that included members of 10 Maternal and Child Health (MCH) research programs, their research and implementation partners, as well as family and community representatives, to develop an MCH COVID-19 Research Agenda. Stakeholders from academia, clinical practice, nonprofit organizations, and family advocates participated in four meetings, with 30-35 participants at each meeting.AssessmentInvestigating the impacts of COVID-19 on children's mental health and ways to address them emerged as the highest research priority, followed by studying resilience at individual and community levels; identifying and mitigating the disparate negative effects of the pandemic on children and families of color, prioritizing community-based research partnerships, and strengthening local, state and national measurement systems to monitor children's well-being during a national crisis.ConclusionEnacting this research agenda will require engaging the community, especially youth, as equal partners in research co-design processes; centering anti-racist perspectives; adopting a "strengths-based" approach; and integrating young researchers who identify as Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC). New collaborative funding models and investments in data infrastructure are also needed