Early-Childhood Research
Student Well-Being
Masks Won't Slow Language for Kids If There's Plenty of Face Time at Home, Expert Says
While masks may decrease facial cues, it's too early to know for sure how wearing masks might affect speech and language, an expert says.
Early Childhood
What the Research Says
Starting School After the Pandemic: Youngest Students Will Need Foundational Skills
The earliest grades saw the biggest enrollment drops in 2020-21. Experts say these students will need significant help come fall.
Early Childhood
Live Online Discussion
The Impact of the Coronavirus on Early-Childhood Learning
Early-childhood learning plays an important role in a child's development, but what once focused mostly on play and relationship building has evolved into a more academic-focused experience. What have we learned from this development? And
Science
Storytime, Meet Number Play: Early Math in the Home Matters for Later Skills
Preschool-age children who frequently play number-related games at home show better math skills and growth by the end of kindergarten, finds a new study in the journal Child Development.
Early Childhood
Video
Academic Redshirting, and Why It’s Not So Simple
It's the time of year for students to go back to school, but some 5-year-olds won't be making the transition to kindergarten.
What’s known as academic redshirting has become a more popular option, most often for upper middle class parents. This is when parents hold their child back from kindergarten by a year. Required school entry varies across the U.S., and in 42 states attendance is mandatory at age 6 or later.
Academic redshirting has benefits and disadvantages on a child’s development that parents should keep in mind.
Advantages may include higher passing rates on exams and being more attentive in classes. Disadvantages may include an increase in classroom difficulty for both students and teachers due to age gaps between students and self-esteem issues.
Research shares pros and cons on academic redshirting but there are still no clear results. Before considering the option to hold a child back from elementary school, teachers at a child’s preschool may be helpful in deciding if the practice of academic redshirting may be the right option.
Early Childhood
How's Your Local Head Start Performing? Sampling Classrooms May Not Be Enough
Individual Head Start classrooms vary enough in quality that the ratings of more than a third of centers could change by random chance, a new study finds. The results suggest those looking to improve the early education centers need to target support to individual teachers, not just to whole-school training.
School & District Management
Like Father, Like Son: Preschool Benefits Cross Generations, Says Landmark Study
More than 50 years after research began on the Perry Preschool program, the ongoing study finds that the benefits are crossing generations. Can preschool break the poverty cycle?
Early Childhood
State-Funded Pre-K Sees Slow Enrollment Growth, Says New National Report
It would take years at the current growth rate for state-funded preschool to enroll half of the nation's 4-year-olds, the National Institute for Early Education Reseach says.
Early Childhood
Algebra for 3rd Graders?
When it comes to algebra, new research at the American Educational Research Association suggests you can't start too early.
Early Childhood
New Report Ranks Which States Give Babies the Strongest Start in Life
A new report ranks the best and worst states for babies based on how those children fare in terms of health, strong families and opportunities for early learning.
Early Childhood
Reading Aloud and 'Exergaming': A Roundup of Early-Years Research
Two recent studies take a look at how often parents are reading to young children and the impact of exercise-related video games on boosting preschoolers physical activity.
Early Childhood
Child Care Provides Nearly $100 Billion Economic Impact, New Report Finds
A new report by the Committee for Economic Development finds that in addition to allowing parents to work, child care itself has a big economic footprint.
Early Childhood
Many Large City Pre-K Programs Fail to Meet Quality Benchmarks, Study Finds
A new study finds that the majority of city pre-K programs in the nation's 40 largest cities fall short on a research organization's yardsticks, and 40 percent fail to reach more than 30 percent of the 4-year-old population.
Early Childhood
New Study Finds Strong School Climate Key to Effective Early Learning
A new study finds that several factors that can be measured through surveys of teachers, staff members, and parents reliably predict the effectiveness of an early-childhood education.