The primary goal of this study was to examine young adults' perspectives about the effects of their food allergies (FAs) on their social lives from school-age to young adulthood. Young adults aged 18-21 (n = 10) at the University of South Carolina were interviewed. A qualitative descriptive method to find themes and commonalities from transcribed…

The impact of children's health, wellbeing, and family environment on their learning and development is evident. Identifying the needs of children and their families is the first step to effectively developing and implementing programs that promote child development. This research employed a convergent mixed methods design and incorporated…

This article describes some of the extraordinary accomplishments of the second cohort of states to participate in the Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health Financing Policy Project (IECMH-FPP). The purpose of the IECMHFPP is to support states' advancement of IECMH assessment, diagnosis, and treatment policies that will contribute to the healthy…

University-school partnerships can be a powerful mechanism for educator professional learning, but they have varying degrees of success. In South Carolina's School District 5 of Lexington and Richland Counties, superintendent Christina Melton wanted to make sure her district's partnership with the University of South Carolina would strategically…

Encouraging children's academic success and positive outcomes is a critical duty of parents and school leaders. School leaders face a variety of challenges, including encounters with parents. The problem is the challenges school leaders face where parental involvement influences their children's holistic development. An absence of dynamic parental…

Adaptive leadership requires that practitioners push the boundaries of current policies and systems to provide optimal services to children and families. This process includes self-reflection, strategic positioning, building relationships with advocates, inspiring service providers and policymakers, and creating a shared vision. This article…

Evidence shows that adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are a root cause of risk behaviors. Safe, stable, and nurturing relationships (SSNRs) can potentially moderate the health risks associated with ACEs. This study examines the relationships among SSNRs in childhood, ACEs, and two risk behaviors in adulthood (smoking tobacco and binge…

The national Quality Improvement Center on early Childhood (QIC-eC) funded four research and demonstration projects that tested child maltreatment prevention approaches. The projects were guided by several key perspectives: the importance of increasing protective factors in addition to decreasing risk factors in child maltreatment prevention…

Children from low-income families are more likely than those from higher income families to have poor social, emotional, cognitive, behavioral, and health outcomes. One approach that has helped parents and their young children is home visiting, which provides information, resources, and support to expectant parents and families with young…

This hearing serves as a first in a set of hearings focusing on early learning. In his opening statement, Senator Tom Harkin, Chairman of the Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, strongly encouraged members of this committee on both sides of the aisle to hold roundtables and have discussions on early learning in their local…

Mainstream education often misunderstands the ways that some rural black families display involvement in their children's lives. Teachers may tend to attribute children's academic struggles to what they perceived as a lack of care, concern, and involvement of the families. Such views could keep children from reaching and exceeding their potential,…

High-quality child care has been shown to improve the academic success and life adjustments of children living in poverty. During the past decade, many American states have adopted voluntary Quality Rating and Improvement (QRI) systems in an attempt to increase the level of quality in child care. Using data compiled by the National Association of…

Homeschooling, and academic interest in this phenomenon, have increased tremendously over the last decade. The surge of African American involvement in the homeschool movement has also become noticeable. However, there continues to be a general paucity of research on the motivations of African American parents that choose homeschooling. In order…

This study examined influences on delinquency and recidivism using structural equation modeling. The sample comprised 199,204 individuals: 99,602 youth whose cases had been processed by the South Carolina Department of Juvenile Justice and a matched control group of 99,602 youth without juvenile records. Structural equation modeling for the…

The purpose of my study was to evaluate the relationship between classroom process quality and child language and academic outcomes from the beginning of the pre-kindergarten year to the beginning of the kindergarten year for one cohort of children participating in a state-funded pre-kindergarten program in South Carolina. Data for my study were…