January 17, 2020 – Volume 19, Issue 3

Reducing Chronic Absenteeism Among Pre-K, Kindergarten Students

New resources to help identify and reduce chronic absenteeism among pre-K and kindergarten students are available from the REL Mid-Atlantic and the New Jersey Department of Education.

Resources include guidance for school leaders when talking with parents and families about attendance, absenteeism risk factor fact sheets, research-based strategies to reduce chronic absenteeism in the early grades, and more.

NIEER to Gauge West Virginia’s Early Learning Quality

NIEER is partnering with the West Virginia Department of Education (WVDE) and Marshall University’s College of Education and Professional Development to conduct a multi-year study of the long-term impact of high-quality early learning programming on later student achievement.

The study aims to determine how children who attend a West Virginia Universal Pre-K program fare in the areas of math, language, literacy and social skills compared to those children who did not attend a West Virginia Universal Pre-K program. The study also aims to determine the overall quality of programming in early grades.

“We are extremely pleased to have the opportunity to partner with NIEER with this study highlighting specific information about how we can help make systemic improvements to ultimately increase student achievement across all grade levels,” said West Virginia Superintendent of Schools, Dr. Steven Paine. “It is critical that we begin to address gaps in achievement early through a comprehensive approach that looks at the whole child—not just their academic development.”

“Should Lead Teachers Have Their Own Credential?”

In the first of several guest articles, Valora Washington, PhD, CEO of the Council for Professional Recognition, and Peggy Brookins, NBCT, president and CEO of the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards, explain their joint study to determine the viability of a national certification for early childhood lead teachers.

Read more and learn how you can participate in the study.

Self-Regulation in Childhood as a Predictor of Future Outcomes: A Meta-Analytic Review

Examining the relationship between self-regulation in childhood and concurrent and subsequent levels of achievement, interpersonal behaviors, mental health, and healthy living, researchers report their analyses “provide evidence that self-regulation in childhood can predict achievement, interpersonal behaviors, mental health, and healthy living in later life.”

Early Efficacy of Multitiered Dual-Language Instruction: Promoting Preschoolers’ Spanish and English Oral Language

Researchers investigated the effect of multi-tiered, dual-language instruction on children’s oral language skills. They report “moderate to large effect sizes favoring the treatment group on all the English proximal measures and on three of the four Spanish proximal measures.’

Associations between Daily Step Counts and Physical Fitness in Preschool Children

Examining daily step counts and physical fitness in preschool children, researchers suggest “positive relationships between step counts and physical fitness were observed in preschool children, and the relationships were strongest for those who accumulated 8000 steps/day in boys.”

The Health Status of the Early Care and Education Workforce in the USA: A Scoping Review of the Evidence and Current Practice

Identifying articles and interventions targeting the health status of the early childhood education workforce, researchers suggest the workforce is “in need of health promotion interventions to address high levels of mental and physical health challenges, some above and beyond peers with comparable demographic characteristics.”

Teacher-Child Emotion Talk in Preschool Children Displaying Elevated Externalizing Behaviors

Researchers examined the relationship between teacher-child emotion talk and gains in observed positive engagement with teachers in preschoolers displaying high levels of externalizing behaviors. “If teachers offer frequent opportunities to talk about emotions in the context of warm and sensitive dyadic interactions, children connect and communicate more with their teachers regardless of their initial engagement level,” the researchers report.

Executive Director, National Association for Early Childhood Specialists in State Departments of Education / Read more.

Assistant/Associate Professor – Early/Elementary Literacy, School of Education in the College of Human Sciences and Education at Louisiana State University / Read more.