Early Childhood Programs Research Articles

Barriers Perceived by Professionals in Family-Centered Early Intervention Services: A Systematic Review of the Current Evidence

AbstractFamily-centered services are the recommended early intervention approach to develop and deliver services for children with disabilities and their families. This systematic review aims to identify and highlight what barriers service providers in family-centered early intervention perceive that prevent them from providing high-quality services focused on the family and the child's overall well-being. We identified 37 articles that met the selection criteria of the first initial search of 1858 articles. These studies provided insights from both service providers and families. The identified barriers were categorized into eight dimensions: family, child, knowledge, and application of the approach/model, professional beliefs, natural environment, service coordination, working conditions, and current legislation. The main barriers identified were family barriers, insecurities perceived by professionals and difficulties in their ability to provide services, changes in their attitudes and behaviors when they perceive that they are losing their role as experts, lack of knowledge and application of specific practices, and lack of skills needed to engage primary caregivers in natural settings. These findings should inform policy implementation at local and state levels in countries where family-centered service is established in early childhood programs.

Overcoming the streetlight effect: Shining light on the foundations of learning and development in early childhood.

Developmental theory has long emphasized a range of skills that young children need for healthy development across the life course. Nevertheless, most evaluations of early childhood programs and policies have focused on measuring a somewhat limited set of competencies. In this article, we explore this "streetlight effect" in early childhood intervention research and propose an initial set of skills that we argue should be prioritized alongside traditionally measured outcomes as targets of intervention during the preschool period (i.e., between ages 3 and 5 years). These skills, which we call the foundations of learning and development (FOLD) skills, include both well-studied and emerging constructs such as curiosity, creativity, self-regulation and executive function, critical thinking, perspective taking, and internal representations of self. To better understand FOLD skills' potential as more practical, effective, and inclusive targets of early childhood programs and policies, we review research regarding each skill's malleability, measurability, predictive validity, and universality. We end with a set of future directions for the field, including the need to (a) formulate a more inclusive taxonomy of FOLD skills that incorporates currently omitted competencies relevant to marginalized populations, (b) measure these skills in scalable and actionable ways, and (c) enhance or modify intervention strategies to optimize the development of these FOLD skills in the preschool period. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Validation of the Spanish form of a multidimensional assessment of family engagement for early childhood programs

AbstractThe purpose of this study was to validate the Spanish version of the Family Involvement Questionnaire‐Short Form (FIQ‐SF) for use with Spanish‐speaking families of children enrolled in early childhood education programs. This study examined the factor structure of the FIQ‐SF and established criterion validity for the resulting FIQ‐SF dimension scores. Results from exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses replicated the three dimensions of the English FIQ: Home Engagement, School Engagement, and home–school Conferencing. Mean differences across family demographics were examined. Criterion‐related validity for the three FIQ‐SF dimensions was established by examining correlations with scores on measures of parent‐reported satisfaction with educational experiences, program records of family engagement, direct assessments of child language skills and teacher‐reported approaches to learning. Future directions and practice implications for the use of the Spanish FIQ‐SF to inform program policy and interventions are discussed.

Raising the future together: Assessing the impact of the Chics program on primary caregivers in low-income daycares

Parental involvement in a child's school is crucial during early childhood, a critical period for skill-forming and neurodevelopment. However, the impact of early childhood programs on parents is understudied. This study evaluates the Chics program – which includes teacher training, an improved curriculum, and support meetings – on parental involvement in low-income daycares in South Africa, focusing on parents’ wellbeing, unity, knowledge, and agency. Focus groups and surveys with 126 parents showed the program had positive changes in parental unity, life satisfaction, and agency, encouraging community projects. The results could advice other programs to cost-effectively increase parental involvement in daycare centres.

Structural inequality modifies midlife outcomes of a multisystemic early childhood program.

The role of structural inequalities in the long-term benefits of early childhood programs has not been assessed. Previous findings in the Chicago Longitudinal Study, an early childhood cohort investigation with low-income families, indicate that Child-Parent Center (CPC) participation beginning in preschool was associated with a variety of positive health behaviors. In this secondary analysis, we assessed if structural inequalities (neighborhood poverty, history of discrimination) modified the magnitude of associations between CPC and health and education outcomes (cardiovascular health, body mass index, educational attainment) 30 years later. The Chicago Longitudinal Study cohort of 1,539 children (93% Black, 7% Hispanic) grew up in high-poverty neighborhoods and attended CPCs or the usual district programs. At midlife (ages 32-37, M = 34.9 years, 2012-2017), 1,073 participants completed telephone interviews on structural inequalities, health, and education. Regression analyses were conducted with inverse propensity score weighting. After accounting for structural inequality, CPC participation was significantly associated with outcomes. Mean differences on Framingham risk scores, for example, were significant for CPC preschool at ages 3 and 4 (coefficient = -2.15, p = .004, standardized difference = -0.20). Neighborhood poverty moderated (reduced) the association between CPC and cardiovascular health. Neighborhood poverty and perceived discrimination had independent contributions with outcomes. Findings show that structural inequalities, especially poverty, directly influence and/or moderate long-term effects of CPC participation. Increasing neighborhood resources and socioeconomic status may help comprehensive programs sustain their impacts. Early childhood and sociostructural influences reflect the increasing importance of community contexts to health promotion. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Cultivating Cross‐Cultural Connections through Language Learning Circles in Early Childhood Programs

AbstractSpanish is the second most common language among US children aged 5–17, with 26.8% speaking it at home. To foster cultural understanding and promote positive relationships, it's crucial to introduce young children to different languages and cultures. Preschool language education can cultivate respect and empathy, building more inclusive communities. Culturally responsive education equips children with skills to value diversity, creating a harmonious cultural climate. This article highlights the importance of learning another language (e.g., Spanish) and introduces Language Learning Circles (LCC) for preschoolers. Research indicates ages 3–6 are optimal for language acquisition, emphasizing the need for early exposure to enhance learning, and cultural appreciation.

Supporting equitable and anti-racist practices in early childhood programs: a framework for starting differently

Research has found that as early as preschool, children from diverse backgrounds are more at risk than their peers to experience bias and racism from teachers and negative behavioral outcomes. Given these negative early childhood school experiences can create greater risk for children and more stress for their families, it is important that research is utilized to change such experiences and support more positive development outcomes for young children. The purpose of this article is to prevent an approach to organize and participate in school differently. Our approach involves developing equitable systems that supports early childhood centers to develop equitable systems by building upon the foundational principles of anti-racism, equity, and barrier prevention rather than seeking to intervene upon inequitable systems through professional development and attempting to remove barriers that have already caused harm as is with traditional approaches.

Data Embargoes as a Tool for Emplacement and Displacement of Children in Early Childhood Classrooms: A Comparative Case Study

Data embargoes constrain teachers’ understanding of children by withholding and/or coding particular information on children’s attainment and/or identities. Data embargoes may mask children’s identities in ways that influence their rights to belong in early childhood programs and may construct White positivist childhoods by maintaining the belief that individual children’s bodies can, whether in the present of future, be subject to objective measures of human learning or intelligence used for comparisons that uphold Eurocentric positivistic sciences and neoliberal accountability. By comparing children’s experiences in two racialized and socioeconomically denied policy contexts, we show how data embargoes are implicated in sustaining inequities.

Structural Equality and Support Index in Early Childhood Education

Whether early childhood education is associated with a wide range of adult outcomes above and beyond individual- and family-level outcomes is unknown. As a consequence of improving educational and career success, it is postulated that participation in high quality, comprehensive programs can promote residence in more supportive community contexts in adulthood. To investigate whether participation in high-quality early childhood programs (ECP) in high-poverty neighborhoods is associated with neighborhood-level social determinants of health (SDH) at midlife. This cohort study analyzed data from the Chicago Longitudinal Study, a prospective cohort investigation following-up 989 children aged 3 to 4 years attending the Child-Parent Center (CPC) preschool program between 1983 and 1985 and a comparison group of 550 children using a nonrandomized trial design. Participants from the original sample who completed a telephone interview on health and well-being between ages 32 and 37 years were included in this analysis. Data analysis was conducted from April to June 2024. Participation in a CPC program, which includes preschool (ages 3 to 4 years) and school-age (kindergarten through third grade), vs usual early education programs. The study used a new SDH measure (Index of Structural Equality and Support [I-SES]) based on the Healthy People 2030 framework. This 9-item index score included neighborhood-level assessment, measurement of the quality of education and health services, and assessment of racial discrimination in social and community contexts. Years of education by age 34 years was assessed as the key mediator of influence. A total of 1124 individuals (mean [SD] age at survey completion, 34.9 [1.4] years; 614 women [54.6%]; 1054 non-Hispanic Black [93.8%]; 69 Hispanic [6.2%]; 1 non-Hispanic White [<0.1%]) were included in the study, of whom 740 were in the CPC cohort and 384 were in the comparison cohort. After adjustment for baseline attributes and attrition, compared with no CPC preschool, CPC preschool was associated with significantly higher mean (SD) I-SES scores (5.93 vs 5.53; mean difference, 0.40; 95% CI, 0.16-0.65; standardized mean difference = 0.22). Compared with CPC participation for 0 to 3 years, CPC participation for 4 to 6 years showed a similar pattern of positive associations (adjusted mean I-SES score, 5.97 vs 5.69; mean difference, 0.28; 95% CI, 0.06-0.50; P = .01; SMD = 0.15). CPC participation had a larger-magnitude association with I-SES in married vs single-parent households. Years of education partially mediated the association of CPC with I-SES (up to 41%), especially among those growing up in the highest-poverty neighborhoods. This cohort study found that early childhood programming is associated with SDH in adulthood. These findings reinforce the importance of early childhood education in addressing health disparities and contributing to healthier, more equitable communities and suggest that educational attainment is a key mechanism for health promotion.

‘Global without Borders’: language policy and the concerted cultivation of multilingualism

ABSTRACT Shifts toward an interconnected global economy have raised concerns among middle- and upper-middle-class parents about the role of multilingualism and multiculturalism in child-rearing. Affluent parents have been previously recognized as ‘cultivating’ childhood experiences to promote competitiveness in the professional sphere (Lareau, A. (2003). Unequal childhoods: Class, race, and family life. University of California Press. ). The cultivation of multiple languages and a multicultural stance has, as the global economy has broadened, become part of ‘good parenting’ for many. Against this background, this qualitative study uses a language policy theory (Spolsky, B. (2007). Towards a theory of language policy. 22 (1), https://repository.upenn.edu/wpel/vol22/iss1/1) to examine beliefs, practices, and behaviors of parents of children enrolled in an early childhood program at a private international school in Hong Kong. The findings show how the focal parents created and enacted their own language policy based on their beliefs about languages, the practices they carried out, and their management of their children’s multilingualism, even during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study highlights contemporary tensions between ideologies and practices of language in present-day multilingual and multicultural school settings; in addition, it expands the existing research on language policy and parental engagement by providing a nuanced analysis of how social actors devise ways to manage and support the complex process of language learning, even under dire conditions.

A Survey and Content Analysis of the Quality of Behavior Guidance Policies in Tennessee Early Childhood Programs

Developmentally and culturally appropriate program behavior policies that are clearly communicated and implemented successfully can prevent exclusion and positively impact teachers, children, and families. However, it is unclear if policies are high quality or designed to equitably support positive behavior. We examined behavior policies from 41 child care programs in Tennessee. Using a rating tool, we found that policies were very low quality and lacked information on family engagement, staff training, and the use of data. Policies also exhibited several red flags, including using euphemisms for exclusion, using soft exclusion, and articulating three strikes or zero tolerance policies for certain child behaviors. Finally, leaders reported no formal staff training on the policy, though staff were expected to discuss policies with families. From these findings, it is clear that we need to provide more support and guidance to program leaders and other staff related to creating and implementing behavior policies.

The Trends of Kindergarten Teachers Towards the Integration of Children with Disabilities in the Kindergarten Stage and the Obstacles to Achieving this from their Point of View in Mafraq Governorate

This study aimed to investigate the trends of kindergarten teachers towards integrating people with disabilities at the kindergarten stage and the obstacles to achieving this from their point of view in Mafraq governorate and their relationship to some variables, represented by (type of kindergarten, academic qualification, experience). To achieve the goals of the study, the descriptive curriculum was used. The study community consists of all kindergarten teachers in Mafraq governorate, numbering (230) teachers according to the statistics of the Ministry of education for the academic year 2022/2023, while the study sample consisted of (155) teachers. The researcher designed a tool consisting of two parts: The first is to measure the trends of kindergarten teachers towards integrating people with disabilities with children without disabilities in Mafraq governorate, where it consisted of (28) items distributed over three areas: social, academic, emotional), and the second is to measure obstacles to integration, where it consisted of (20) items. The study showed the multiplicity of obstacles to integration from the teachers' point of view. It also showed that there are no statistically significant differences at (α =0،05) in the trends of kindergarten teachers towards comprehensive integration), with the variety of the type of kindergarten, academic qualifications, and years of experience. The results also explained that the trends of the study sample were positive. In light of the results, the researcher recommends the application of comprehensive integration at the kindergarten stage, and the need to hold training courses to qualify kindergarten teachers, and to raise awareness of the process of applying comprehensive integration from the beginning of early childhood, through media and educational programs, and adapting the educational environment before the application of the comprehensive integration process.

A qualitative comparison of parents’ experiences of early childhood expulsion following a legislative ban

Over the past decade, numerous reports have indicated pervasively high rates of early childhood expulsion nationwide. In response, state and federal policymakers have enacted various measures to ban or reduce reliance on such exclusionary discipline. Prior evaluations of the implementation of one such legislative ban on expulsion enacted in Illinois in 2018 showed partial reductions but relied only on program administrator-reported data. Parents (N = 16) of children (43.75% children of color) expelled from Illinois early childhood programs before and in the years since the 2018 legislative ban were interviewed about their experiences. Parents in both groups reported similar incidents regarding how and why children are excluded, how programs communicated with parents about children’s behavioral concerns, and how programs assisted (or did not) with accessing resources and supports that may enable a child to be retained. Findings indicate that expulsions continue to happen despite the ban and families’ experiences were essentially unchanged and negative. Findings hold implications for the implementation of similar policy efforts across the country.

Family Engagement Practices in a Public Pre-Kindergarten Program: Variation by Program, Classroom, and Staff Characteristics

ABSTRACT Family engagement is considered a key component of preschool program quality, and early childhood education teachers and programs are increasingly expected to engage families in their programs. However, there is limited knowledge on what strategies preschool programs use to engage families and how these family engagement practices vary across programs. This study uses survey data collected from public pre-kindergarten program administrators and teachers in a mid-sized, urban school district to describe various types of family engagement practices and to examine associations between family engagement practices and pre-K program, classroom, and staff characteristics. We also conduct thematic analysis of open-ended survey responses to triangulate and complement our quantitative findings and to provide insight into teachers’ and administrators’ perceived barriers and facilitators of family engagement. We find that teachers frequently communicated with parents and provided involvement opportunities. Programs also provided various referrals and family support services. Family engagement practices were associated with staff’s professional training and classroom and program characteristics. Our findings highlight the importance of considering program structure, such as half- versus full-day program, and the importance of teachers’ knowledge and training in family engagement for shaping preschool programs’ family engagement practices.

Parent and Staff Insights to Understanding Challenges with Engaging Black Families in Early Childhood Programs

Parent and Staff Insights to Understanding Challenges with Engaging Black Families in Early Childhood Programs

A comparative analysis of early years’ programme culture in the US and Poland – advancing humanism by placing love, freedom, care and consideration for others first

ABSTRACT Building on the idea that the culture of an organisation has an extremely deep influence on the personalities, minds and identities of people who participate in it (Hofstede 2015) – we reflected on how the US and Polish cultures' specific values and beliefs were represented and symbolised in the early childhood settings. We focused our analysis on the prosocial disposition that influenced the early childhood programme’s philosophy; environment; parental involvement; celebrated holidays; classroom management; plays and games objects that children are playing with and the curriculum. The results of this research demonstrated that both preschools stressed dispositions like care and consideration for others, love and freedom. In Polish preschool culture, based on their very long history and tradition of wars and partitions, early on, children are exposed to the concepts of truth, forgiveness, second chances and ultimately peace. In the US preschool culture with multicultural traditions, importance is placed on self-confidence, positive self-image, belonging and respect.

The slow pace of reform in a time of criticism, crisis, creativity and opportunity: a call for transformative visions and actions

ABSTRACT The recently revised NAEYC position papers and the fourth edition of NAEYC’s Developmentally Appropriate Guidelines (NAEYC. 2022. Developmentally Appropriate Practice in Early Childhood Programs: ServingChildren from Birth Through Age 8, edited by S. Friedman, 4th ed. Washington: National Association for the Education of Young Children) focus on children’s strengths and diversity, and the need for equitable opportunities in early childhood programmes. We applaud these recent shifts. Yet previous ideas of risk, abnormality and inappropriateness are still embedded in the document, with still hidden, and negative, consequences for children, their families and communities, and for the educators and programmes that serve them. Drawing on critiques of developmentalism, the ideas of postdevelopmentalism and the framework of governmentality, we engage in a dialogue between an early career teacher educator and long-time advocate for DAP change and explore the control DAP has over early childhood education programmes. Despite claims that the fourth edition is too ‘woke’, we challenge educators and organisations in the USA (and elsewhere) to move away from the past and current approaches that still focus on children as innocent and in need of protection, as well as normal (and therefore, abnormal) childhood(s) – and to open up towards an education that is more fluid, one that focuses on children’s diverse strengths, unimagined interests and as-yet-unknown possibilities.

Souring palatable formations in DAP: Toward unfamiliar relations with child development in early childhood teacher education

ABSTRACT Drawing upon Ahmed’s (2006) analysis of how institutional documents become nonperforming, this article argues that teacher education must create opportunities for emerging educators to grapple with the pedagogical consequences of understanding the fourth edition of Developmentally Appropriate Practice in Early Childhood Programs (2022) as a nonperforming text. I contend that as DAP works to moderate universalising developmental knowledges in the name of fostering social justice, DAP reproduces taken-for-granted epistemological relations and hierarchies that maintain dominant understandings childhood and early childhood education. First, I position DAP as a nonperforming text and articulate a mode of nonperformance specific to early childhood education: palatability, built of a rhetoric of childhood innocence and a politics of niceness. I then show how two of DAP’s formations of child development enact nonpeformativity through palatability, illustrating how DAP reiterates status-quo connections between child development and early childhood education. To conclude, I propose souring palatability as a proposition that emerging educators might speculate and experiment with while engaging with DAP.

DAP discourses: hubris, hegemony, or heuristic for teacher education?

ABSTRACT This essay entails a critical review of the origins, discourses and contemporary manifestations of NAEYC’s enduring commitment to ‘developmentally appropriate practice’ (DAP); and proposes a reconceptualisation of DAP as an open question and incentive for place-based collaborative inquiry. Brief discussion of ECE’s early history highlights transnational feminist exchanges, charitable activism, competing interpretations of early childhood programme goals and pedagogies; and a mutually-beneficial relationship between two emerging fields – child development research and ECE as a scientifically-based profession. Decades of child development research are described in relation to evolving iterations of DAP Guidelines (1987). Discourse analysis posits DAP as a weapon against push-down academics, and a hubristic code signifying professional sanction and membership. Challenges to DAP hegemony include research on the cultural embeddedness of developmental standards and examples of collaborative place-based inquiry into ‘appropriate’ ways to care for and educate young children. The essay concludes by proposing DAP as a dynamic heuristic in the reform of ECE teacher education as a profession committed to multiple sources of knowledge and equity-focused social action on behalf of actual and imagined childhoods.

“By Any Means Necessary”: A Case Study Examining How School Leaders Facilitated Community Connectedness in the Early Years of Elementary School

ABSTRACT Elementary school principals play a central role in inducting families into their school communities. As early childhood programs, such as prekindergarten, increasingly become part of elementary schools, this role is expanding. Yet, principals often struggle to establish and maintain such relationships, particularly with many of the historically disenfranchised communities that prekindergarten programs are often designed to serve; these struggles are troubling because success in the early years of schooling can lead to sustained and positive impacts for students as they progress through schooling. Furthermore, few studies have investigated this issue. In this article, we do so by employing Yosso’s Communities of Cultural Wealth to examine how a collection of principals working in Texas described their interactions with the children and families as they entered the early grades of their schools and what these principals hoped these children and families would gain from their early childhood education programs. Our findings revealed strengths and growth areas in their descriptions of fostering the cultural wealth of the children and families entering their schools, which provides an opportunity to consider how to support and train principals as well as the structural changes that need to be addressed to support principals in these activities.