HOT TOPICS
Toddlers and Investors Aren’t Playmates: The Threat of Private Equity in Child Care
This brief explores the growing size and power of private equity-backed for-profit child care chains and their increasing political influence. When child care business owners are making decisions, do they think about what’s best for young children and families, or what will make the most profit for their investors? And to what extent do those two goals diverge? Many child care programs struggle to survive while investor-backed chains make between 15% and 20% profit. Read the brief here.
Young Dual Language Learners: Strengthening Early Childhood Education Systems and Practices Webinar
The U.S. Department of Education’s Office of English Language Acquisition, in collaboration with the Institute of Education Sciences’ Regional Educational Laboratory West, is hosting a webinar on early learning for children who are dual language learners. The webinar will focus on practices and state policies for young dual language learners and how they are codified and implemented in various settings. The panelists will discuss research-based practices for young dual language learners and strategies, funding streams, and resources for caregivers and early childhood educators that support best practice.
Register here.
NIEER ACTIVITY
Building on our recently published article, Components to Consider When Planning City Preschool Programs, NIEER will host two webinars to explore themes from the article in discussions with local leaders:
We’ll be in conversation with leaders from Alameda County, CA, Multnomah County, OR, and St. Paul, MN about the most important questions and considerations policymakers should ask as they approach planning.
We’ll be in conversation with leaders from Denver, New Orleans, and San Antonio about how they have approached governance for their early childhood programs and what lessons they might share with other program leaders.
ECE RESEARCH
Father Involvement during Early Childhood: A Systematic Review of Qualitative Studies
Researchers reviewing qualitative studies on fathers’ involvement in multiple functions and dimensions of early childhood care identified three main themes: (a) the definition of father involvement and description of the main dimensions in which he was involved; (b) challenges and facilitators of father involvement; and (c) the influence of intergenerational values. They provide suggestions to reinforce fathers’ involvement in child care at personal and social levels.
Read the study here.
When researchers from China examined the association between nighttime sleep duration and emotional and behavioral problems (EBPs) among rural preschool children, they concluded that decreased nighttime sleep duration might predict future EBPs, especially in girls, younger preschool children, and children whose mothers had lower education levels.
Read the study here.
The Playful Learning Curriculum: A Randomized Controlled Trial
Researchers from Norway find that the Playful Learning Curriculum has significant effects on early mathematical skills but no significant impact on working memory or expressive vocabulary.
Read the report here.
This study uses contemporary data from a mixed-delivery system of public preschools in Tulsa, Oklahoma, to examine predictors of attending Head Start or Tulsa Public Schools (TPS) pre-k and whether program type is associated with differences in DLLs’ kindergarten entry skills.
Read the study here.
OPPORTUNITIES
The journal Education Sciences seeks submissions for a special issue on the Learning Space and Environment of Early Childhood Education that aims to gather research relating to how early childhood education’s physical environments, spaces, and materials influence a wide range of outcomes. The deadline for manuscript submissions is April 30th. Submit here.
Executive Director, NJ Division of Early Childhood Services
Education Consultant for Preschool