Presentations

August 11, 2010
Planned Explorations and Spontaneous Discoveries: Supporting Scientific Inquiry in Preschool
This presentation describes the benefits of science for preschool students, acknowledges the challenges educators face, and provides practical strategies for fulfilling our responsibilities to young learners. Assistant Research Professor Kimberly Brenneman delivered this featured presentation at the DLM Summer Institute in July 2010.

June 29, 2010
2009 State Preschool Yearbook Webinar
State prekindergarten programs in the U.S. were featured in a June 29, 2010 webinar presented by NIEER Director Steve Barnett and the National Title I Association. Highlights from the presentation included trends in access, spending and quality standards as well as information on curriculum, English language learners, assessments, monitoring and family engagement.

November 20, 2009
Beyond Calendars and Today's Weather: Improving Instructional Quality and Learning Outcomes for Pre-K Mathematics and Science
Presentation by NIEER Co-Director Ellen Frede and Research Professor Kimberly Brenneman at the annual meeting of the National Association for the Education of Young Children, November 2009.

November 19, 2009
Dorothy Strickland's Congressional Testimony on Early Literacy
Dorothy Strickland, NIEER Distinguished Research Fellow, testified before the House Education and Labor Subcommittee on early literacy learning experiences, focusing on what is known, what is needed, how to improve and what is needed from the federal government to ensure high quality literacy learning experiences for young children that research shows can help reduce grade retention, improve graduation rates and enhance productivity in adult life.

June 24, 2009
The Changing Landscape of Pre-K: Examining the changes and impacts of quality standards in prekindergarten at the national, state, district and program levels.
Presentation on policies, implementation strategies and monitoring of quality standards in prekindergarten at the national, state, district and program levels.

June 12, 2009
Seeing the Learning in Play: Using Performance-based Assessment to Document and Enhance Learning in Play
Presentation by NIEER Research Professor Shannon Ayers and Co-director Ellen Frede on the Early Learning Scale and the importance of learning through play.

April 16, 2009
Hispanics, Language and Immigration: Gaps in the Early Years
Presentation by NIEER Assistant Research Professor Milagros Nores and Claudia Pineda, University of California, on their study of Hispanic gaps, addressing questions such as: How much of the Hispanic achievement gap can be explained by language background differences and immigration experiences? How do Hispanics gaps evolve over time and compare to other racial groups? How do these differ across language backgrounds within the Hispanic group? Are there differences in gaps among children of immigrant versus non-immigrant parents and how does language matter in this context?

April 4, 2009
Child Outcomes of the Arkansas Better Chance Prekindergarten Program in Kindergarten and First Grade
This presentation, presented by NIEER researchers Jason T. Hustedt, W. Steven Barnett, and Kwanghee Jung at the 2009 Biennial Meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, focuses on early results from a 5-year longitudinal study of the state-funded Arkansas Better Chance (ABC) prekindergarten program. The goal of this study is to estimate the effects of state-funded pre-K in Arkansas on children's language, mathematics, and literacy skills through fourth grade. Here, we present data about classroom quality in the ABC program and examine children's language, math, and literacy scores at three key points in time: the beginning of kindergarten, the end of kindergarten, and the end of first grade. Results from classroom quality analyses suggest that overall quality in ABC pre-K classrooms was generally high. Measures of child outcomes suggest continuing benefits for children who participated in the high-quality ABC program by the time they reach kindergarten and first grade.

April 2, 2009
Prek Availability in Vietnam: Determinants of Early Attainment & Progress
Presentation by NIEER Assistant Research Professor Milagros Nores and Emanuella di Gropello, World Bank, at the 2009 Biennial Meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development. The presentation gives an overview of a paper that analyzes the effect of preschool availability in Vietnam on grade completion indicators, estimating the probability of grade completion and dropout.

April 2, 2009
Worldwide Access to Early Childhood Programs: Where Do We Go From Here?
Early childhood care and education (ECEC) programs have become more and more available to children across the world during the past several decades. However, enrollment rates remain low in developing countries, where children are particularly disadvantaged. ECEC is one of six Education for All goals set at the World Education Forum in 2000 for expanding and improving educational opportunities worldwide, and this can be viewed as a strategy for reducing poverty in the developing world. Country-by-country enrollment rates for pre-primary education are available on an annual basis from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), and show recent increases particularly in transition and developing countries. Much less is known about the types of programs that children attend. In order to better understand educational opportunities available to young children, it is important to consider additional questions. For example, are programs universally available or targeted? What quality provisions are being implemented? This slideshow was presented by NIEER Assistant Research Professor Jason T. Hustedt and Co-Director W. Steven Barnett at the 2009 Biennial Meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development.

March 20, 2009
(Under)investing in the very young: Benefits of ECD in an international perspective
Presentation by NIEER Assistant Research Professor Milagros Nores and Co-Director W. Steven Barnett on their study that analyzed early childhood interventions from 23 countries and found substantial cognitive, behavioral, and health benefits as well as schooling outcomes that were sustained over time.

August 1, 2008
What's New in Pre-K Research
NIEER Co-Director Ellen Frede's presentation on research in preschool education includes information on randomized trials, NIEER state studies, and more.

June 9, 2008
Improving Teaching Through Standards-Based Systematic Assessment: Development of the Early Learning Scale
Presentation by Shannon Riley-Ayers, Ellen Frede, Gera Jacobs, and Judi Stevenson Boyd at the National Association for the Education of Young Children’s National Institute for Early Childhood Professional Development June 9, 2008.

October 11, 2007
Investing in Quality Pre-K
NIEER Director Steve Barnett presents the impacts of a quality early education at New Hampshire's 2007 Legislative Forum, October 11, 2007.

June 18, 2007
The Effects of Oklahoma's Pre-Kindergarten Program on School Readiness
A power point presentation on Oklahoma's prekindergarten program by William Gormley delivered at a congressional briefing on key issues in preschool education June 18, 2007.

June 18, 2007
New State Research on Highly Effective Pre-K
NIEER Director Steve Barnett's power point presentation on state preschool research at the Congressional briefing June 18, 2007.

November 1, 2006
NIEER Fellow Dorothy Strickland Opens NAEYC General Session
Dorothy Strickland, nationally-renowned literacy expert, the Samuel DeWitt Proctor Chair in Education at Rutgers University and NIEER senior research fellow helped the National Association for the Education of Young Children kick off its opening general session November 8, 2006. View Dr. Strickland's "What Makes a Good Book!" powerpoint.

October 27, 2006
Benefits and Costs of Quality Early Education for All
Presentation by Steve Barnett to the Pre-Kindergarten Education Study Committee of the Vermont General Assembly, October 27, 2006.

December 8, 2003
Quality Early Childhood Education: It Costs, It Pays, It Counts
Steve Barnett on financing quality early childhood education - part of the Mid-Atlantic Early Childhood Education Network Forum.