Head Start University-Community Partnerships and Mentorship of Graduate Students in Early Childhood Research

Abstract

University-community partnerships are becoming increasingly salient to the development of early childhood education experiences that promote school readiness for young children (Barnett & Frede, 2001). Given the unique skills required for such collaborative research endeavors, there is a need for capacity-building that begins with training of new scholars in the early childhood education and development field. One funding source that focuses on assisting graduate students with developing research skills in the context of university-community collaborations is the Head Start Graduate Student Research Grant program (referred to throughout as the Scholars Program). The Scholars Program emphasizes faculty mentorship of graduate students conducting field-initiated studies in collaboration with Head Start programs (Administration for Children and Families [ACF], 2005), as a context for learning the requisite skills to do successful community-based, partnership-building research. To inform future directions in the preparation of early childhood education scholars, the purpose of the current study was to evaluate the alignment of graduate students' Scholars Program experiences with stated program goals. The study examined students' perspectives about the utility of the program's central component - the mentorship process.