HOT TOPICS
Learning Acceleration: A Strategy to Mitigate Pandemic Learning Loss
The Joseph C. Cornwall Center for Metropolitan Studies at Rutgers University–Newark recently released briefs addressing pressing issues in education. The first provides a snapshot of research on learning loss related to the pandemic, and ways to mitigate that loss. The other summarizes research on professional learning communities (PLCs), and addresses ways to overcome challenges to their successful implementation. Click here to read the first and here for the second.
Pre-K in Family Child Care Project
The PreK in Family Child Care Project, which examines strategies for implementation of public pre-K in family child care, recently unveiled a new website. It includes the new brief Strategies Toward the Equitable Implementation of PreK in Family Child Care: Qualifications & Compensation, focused on promising state and local approaches to creating equitable qualification and compensation policies for family child care educators delivering public pre-K. Check out all the project resources here.
NIEER ACTIVITY
Applications are being accepted to participate in a nine-month peer learning community, Envision, Plan, and Implement Supportive Systems for Dual Language Learners, hosted by NIEER and the Migration Policy Institute. States/partners will engage and collaborate to self-identify a catalyst for action that can lead to improved policies and systems for dual language learners. See the attached document for details, as well as the structure for the letter of interest. Questions? Contact Alexandra Figueras-Daniel at afiguerasdaniel@nieer.org. Letters of interest are due Feb. 3.
ECE RESEARCH
Childcare Prices In Local Areas: Initial Findings From The National Database Of Childcare Prices
An analysis of the new National Database of Childcare Prices (NDCP), the most comprehensive federal source of child care prices at the county level, showed child care costs between 8 and 19.3 percent of median family income, according to the U.S. Department of Labor Women’s Bureau. In 2022 dollars, annual median child care prices for a single child ranges from $5,357 to $17,171 depending on provider type, child’s age, and county population. Read the report here.
Benefits Of Pre-Kindergarten For Children In Baltimore, MD
Pre-K attendance in Baltimore, MD public school programs that received Preschool Development Grant funds was related to positive impacts on children’s language, early literacy, and early mathematics outcomes, researchers found. They used a regression discontinuity design to compare children who attended the publicly-funded program to those in a comparison group of children in other early care settings. Read it here.
The Impact of Screen Exposure on Attention Abilities in Young Children: A Systematic Review
A high level of screen exposure relates to attention difficulties in young children, according to researchers in France. They conducted a systematic review of studies conducted over 20 years on the immediate and long-term effects of screen exposure. While noting conclusions about the relationship between screen exposure and attentional functions “may be limited by many confounding factors,” they recommend parents follow current pediatric guidelines of no screen exposure before age 2 and only limited exposure after. Read the study here.
Parent training treatment showed promise as an intervention for preschoolers with major depressive disorder (MDD), researchers in Italy found. Children were divided into under-reactive (i.e., demonstrated anhedonia, apathy or inhibition) and over-reactive (i.e., demonstrated externalizing behaviors) groups; only children in the over-reactive group showed significant reduction in depressive symptoms following the intervention. Read the study here.
Review of the Concept of Executive Function: Focusing on Preschool
Researchers in Iran reviewed a subset of English-language papers that focused on executive function (EF) in preschoolers and identified two general views on the construct of EF: one, that EFs are a unified structure; and the other, which emphasizes EF as comprised of separate processes. Read the review here.
Technology Education in Early Childhood Education: Systematic Review
Technological breakthroughs, greater funding of research, and increased international interest have led to a rapid increase in technology education in early childhood education, researchers in China found. They examined 25 studies conducted between 2003 and 2021, finding research focused on curriculum, robotics, programming, attitudes, and opinions. Future research should compare robot learning to traditional learning, examine the use of robots in improving students’ skills, thinking and problem-solving abilities, and assess the effectiveness of using robots in learning and teaching, they said. Access the study here.
OPPORTUNITIES
- Bridge to Faculty Postdoctoral Research Associate, Department of Educational Psychology, University of Illinois Chicago
- Early Childhood Studies Assistant/Associate/Full Professor, University of Florida
- Early Childhood Education Faculty (Open Rank, Multiple Positions), George Mason University
- Research Fellow, Herr Research Center at Erikson Institute